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rw 



PICTORIAL LIFE 



NDREW JACKSON; 



EMBRACING 



ANECDOTES, 



ILLUSTRATIVE OF HIS CHARACTER, 



FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 



THE AUTHOR OF "LIFE OF WASHINGTON.' 



'TSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

\ND BLAKISTON, 

'T STREET. 




^^2'^ 
.-V^ 



Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by 

LINDSAY & BLAKISTON, 

in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



620^ 



J. FAGAN, STEREOTYPER. 



PRINTED BY T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS. 




PREFACE. 

N the 8th day of June, less than one 
month ago — died, in the fullness of 
his years and honours, the great 
citizen and soldier, Andrew Jackson. 
It will be for the men of another age to 
pass a calm and enduring judgment upon the 
influence of his remarkable career upon the 
character and destinies of the nation. But as a 
mihtary commander of the most splendid abilities ; 
as a statesman who has occupied the highest place 
in the gift of the people, with a courage and strength 
of intellect which have made his name familiar 
through the world ; as a brave, patriotic and high- 
souled American ; he is even now contemplated by 
th.e ii^en of every opinion and party. 

(3) 



iv PREFACE. 

He lived a hero, and died a Christian. He is 
gone from a world where he was recognised as 
among the greatest of men, to an immortal com- 
panionship with the greatest and purest of all the 



ages. 



We have, in this httle volume, sketched his his- 
tory with carefulness and candour, and present the 
record to our young countrymen, to be placed with 
that of the life of our Washington, among the 
models to be imitated by all who would attain a 
similar elevation in the world. 

Philadelphia, July 4, 1845. 



(2) 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

Birth and Parentage of Jackson — Death of his Father — An exemplary 
Mother — Jackson is sent to School Page 9 

CHAPTER II. 

Life during the Revolutionary War — Invasion of South Carolina by the 
British — Attack on the Waxhav^r Settlement — Jackson enters the Amer- 
ican Army — His first Field — His quickness of conception — A desperate 
Affair — A Stratagem of the Enemy — Capture of Jackson — Attempted in- 
dignity — Resistance of Jackson — He is wounded — Hobkirk Hill — Anec- 
dote 13 

CHAPTER III. 

Close of the Revolutionary War — Death of Jackson's Brother and Mother — 
Severe Illness — Jackson enters upon the enjoyment of his Patrimony — 
Squanders it — Sudden resolution — Jackson studies Law — Is admitted to 
Practice — Receives the appointment of Solicitor 23 

CHAPTER IV. 

Jackson emigrates to Tennessee — Anecdotes of his Life while practising as a 
Lawyer — A hazardous Adventure — Timely warning 25 

CHAPTER V. 

Jackson locates himself permanently at Nashville — Expeditions against the 
Indians — « Sharp Knife " — Jackson makes the acquaintance of Mrs. Ro- 
bards — His Marriage 31 

(5) 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Jackson applies himself to his Profession — Trouble with the " Bullies" — He 
is elected a Representative in Congress — Resigns — Is appointed a Judge 
of the Supreme Court of Tennessee — Anecdote — He resigns the Judgeship 
— Retirement 35 

CHAPTER VII. 

A Duel — Jackson enters into the Mercantile business — Dishonesty of his 
Partner — Noble conduct of Jackson 39 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Adventure with an Indian Agent 42 

CHAPTER IX. 

War of 1812 — Jackson is placed in command of twenty-five hundred men — 
Marches to Natchez — Is ordered by the Secretary of War to dismiss his 
men — Refuses — Returns to Tennessee 45 

CHAPTER X. 

The Indian Campaign — Massacre at Fort Mimms — Jackson again takes the 
Field — Battle of Tallushatchee — An Indian protege 52 

CHAPTER XI. 
Battle of Talladega 60 

CHAPTER XII. 

Privations of the Army — Anecdote — Mutiny of the Troops — Firmness of 
Jackson H4 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Battle of Emuckfaw — Of Enotochopco — Cowardice of Stump and Perkins ' 7 



CONTENTS. VU 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Battle of Tohopeka — Kindness of Jackson 82 

CHAPTER XV. 

Continuation of the Indian Campaign — Jackson's Address to the Army — 
Submission of the Indians — Disbanding of the Troops 88 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Southern Campaign against the British — Jackson is appointed a Major-Gen- 
eral of the United States — Duplicity of the Spanish Governor of Pensacola 
— Defeat of the British at Fort Bowyer — Jackson captures Pensacola — 
Approach of a large hostile Force 95 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Jackson at New Orleans — Discouraging circumstances 100 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Battle of the 23d of December 103 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Further operations — Fortification of the City — Supposed disaffection — Skir- 
mish of the 1st of January 119 

CHAPTER XX. 

Eighth of January, 1815 — A Deserter — The British advance to the attack 
— Terrible slaughter — Fall of Packenham — Defeat of the British — Re- 
ward of Treachery 130 

CHAPTER XXL 

New Orleans after the Battle — Jackson is fined one thousand dollars. . . 141 



Viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Jackson returns to Tennessee — Difficulties with the Seminoles — Jackson en- 
ters Florida — Captures St. Mark's — Execution of Arbuthnot and Arabrister 

Destruction of Suwaney and Mickasuky — Jackson takes possession of 

Pensacola — End of the Seminole Campaign 145 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Jackson after the Seminole War 154 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Acquisition of the Floridas — Jackson appointed Governor — Enters upon the 
duties of his office — His resignation — He is elected a Senator of the United 
States 157 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Jackson is nominated for the Presidency — Receives a majority of the popular 
vote, but is defeated in the House of Representatives — Jackson's second 
nomination — He is triumphantly elected in 1828 — Re-elected in 1832 — 
Retires from public life 165 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The last hours of Jackson — His Death 168 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Funeral Honours — Character of Jackson — His personal appearance, ... 178 



LIFE 

OF 

ANDREW JACKSON. 



CHAPTER I. 

HIS BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 

^^NDREW JACKSON was born on 
the 15th of March, 1767, in the state 
of South Carolina. This distinguished 
hero can trace no line of splendid 
ancestry. He may, however, boast of having 
sprung from a race distinguished for honesty, 
^ courage, and generous hospitality. 
^' His father (Andrew) was the youngest son 

of a Scotch family, whose ancestors had at some 
remote period emigrated to the north of Ireland. 
To escape the troubles brought upon that country 
by the English government, Andrew Jackson, with 
his wife and two sons, Hugh and Robert, emigrated 
to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1765. Having 

(9) 




10 L I F E O F 

purchased a tract of land in what was then called 
the "Waxhaw settlement," (about forty-five miles 
above Camden, and near the boundary line of North 
Carolina,) he left Charleston shortly after, and set- 
tled here with his family. In two years after his 
arrival at the Waxhaw settlement, Andrew Jackson, 
the subject of our biography, was born. Thus do 
we see that to no long line of titled ancestors, to no 
extensive connection with the wealthy and influen- 
tial, is General Jackson indebted for the high place 
he occupies in the confidence and affections of his 
countrymen, and the rank he is destined to hold 
among the good and the great of mankind. 

The progress of General Jackson, from the 
" plough to the presidency," is an instructive and 
encouraging lesson to the youth of his country. 
(,J^ Shortly ^aiier the birth of Jackson, his father died, 
TeavTng himself and his two brothers under the sole 
protection and guardianship of their mother. And 
well did this remarkable woman deserve and execute 
the duties of her station. It has been said, that 
many great men have been indebted for their success 
to the early principles and lessons inculcated by a 
wise mother. The life of General Jackson is an 
additional proof of the correctness of this remark ; 
for the many acts of female heroism, and devotion 



ANDREW JACKSON. 11 

both to her family and her adopted country, prove 
that the mother of our hero was a woman of no 
common mind. She appears to have been an exem- 
plary woman, and to have executed the arduous 
duties which had devolved on her with great faith- 
fulness and with much success. To the lessons she 
inculcated on the youthful minds of her sons was, 
no doubt, owing, in a great measure, that fixed op- 
position to British tyranny and oppression which 
afterward so much distinguished them. Often 
would she spend the winter's evenings in recount- 
ing to them the sufferings of their grandfather at 
the siege of Carrickfergus, and the oppressions 
exercised by the nobility of Ireland over the labour- 
ing poor ; impressing it upon them, as a first duty, 
to expend their lives, if it should become necessary, 
in defending and supporting the natural rights of 
man. 

Inheriting but a small patrimony from their father, 
it was impossible that all the sons could receive an 
expensive education. The two eldest were, there- 
fore, only taught the rudiments of their mother 
tongue, at a common country school. But Andrew, 
being intended by his mother for the ministry, was 
sent to a flourishing academy at the Waxhaw 
meeting-house, superintended by Mr. Humphries. 



12 LIFE O F 

Here he was placed on the study of the dead lan- 
guages, and continued until the revolutionary war, 
extending its ravages into that section of South 
Carolina where he then was, rendered it necessary 
that every one should betake himself to the Ameri- 
can standard, seek protection with the enemy, or 
flee his country. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 13 



CHAPTER II. 

LIFE DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 

N 1775, when the revolutionary war 
broke out, Andrew Jackson was but 
eight years old. Although it was some 
years afterwards when its bloody foot- 
steps approached his residence, he heard of 
its battles and its horrors from afar, and may 
be said to have grown up amidst war's 
alarms. All around him the men were train- 
ing themselves for battle, and from his mother and 
teacher he received constant lessons of patriotic 
devotion. 

It was not long, however, before Jackson had an 
opportunity of being an eye-witness to the butcher- 
ies of a savage war. South Carolina was invaded 
by the British in 1779, and in the early part of 
1780 the war was pushed with renewed vigour, and 
reached the hitherto peaceful settlement of the 
Waxhaws. 




14 L I FE OF 

On the 29th May, 1780, a division of the Ameri- 
can army, under Colonel Buford, was attacked in 
the Waxhaw settlement by Colonel Tarleton, and 
suffered a total defeat. One hundred and fifteen of 
the Americans were killed, and one hundred and 
fifty desperately wounded. Some of the men had 
received no less than thirteen wounds. The Wax- 
haw meeting-house was converted into a hospital ; 
and here had the young Jackson an opportunity of 
witnessing the horrors of war. The mangled bodies 
of his countrymen, presented a sad confirmation of 
those impressions made upon his youthful mind by 
the tales of English cruelty which he had so often 
heard from his mother and kindred. 

Shortly after this, Mrs. Jackson, with her two 
sons, Robert and Andrew (she had already lost her 
eldest, Hugh, who perished in the battle of Stono), 
retired before the invading army into North Caro- 
lina. Here she remained but a short time, and, re- 
turning to the Waxhaws, her two sons entered the 
ranks of the American army, and were present at 
the battle of Hanging Rock, on the 6th of August, 
1780, in which their corps particularly distinguished 
itself. This was General Jackson's first field, and 
he was little over thirteen years old on the day of 
the battle. 



i 




GEME-RAL ANDREW JACKSON. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 15 

In the month of September following, Mrs. Jack- 
son and her sons, with most of the Waxhaw set- 
tlers, were again compelled to retire before the Bri- 
tish army into North Carolina. They returned, 
however, in February, 1781, as soon as they heard 
that Lord Cornwalhs had crossed the Yadkin. The 
war had now assumed a degree of savage ferocity. 
Private revenge, on both sides, found ready means 
of gratification in this system of partisan warfare. 
The laws were not enforced, and there were no 
courts to protect innocence or punish crime, — men 
hunted each other like beasts of prey, and the sava- 
ges were outdone in cruelty. In such a school was 
our hero tutored. Boys, big enough to carry mus- 
kets, incurred the dangers of men. Robert and 
Andrew Jackson had their guns and their horses, 
and were almost always in company with some 
armed party of their kindred and neighbours. Men 
could not sleep unguarded in their own houses, with- 
out danger of being surprised and murdered. 

It w^as upon such an occasion, that Andrew Jack- 
son gave the first illustration of that quickness of 
conception, and readiness of action, which after- 
wards placed him in the highest rank of military 
chieftains. A patriot captain, named Lands, de- 
sired to spend a night with his family. The two 



16 LIFE OF 

Jacksons and six otliers constituted his guard ; they 
were in all nine men and seven muskets. Having 
no expectations of an attack, they all, with the ex- 
ception of a British deserter, who was one of the 
party, went to sleep. Lands' house was in the cen- 
tre of an enclosed yard, and had two doors, facing 
east and west. In front of the east door stood a 
forked apple-tree. In the south-west corner of the 
yard were a corn-crib and stable, under one roof, 
ranging east and west. On the south was a wood, 
and through this wood passed the road which led to 
the house. 

A party of the Tories had become apprised of 
Lands' return, and had determined to surprise and 
kill him. 

Approaching through the wood, and tying their 
horses behind the stable, they divided into two par- 
ties, one going round the east end of the stable, in- 
tending to enter the east door of the house, while 
the other went round the west end, making for the 
west door. At this moment, the soldier, who was 
awake, hearing some noise in the direction of the 
stable, went out to see what was the matter, and 
perceived the party, which was entering the yard at 
the east end of the building. Running back in ter- 
ror, he seized Andrew Jackson, who was nearest 




JACKSONS PRESENCE OF MIND 



ANDREW JACKSON. 17 

the door, by the hair, exclaiming, " the Tories are 
upon us !" Our young hero ran out, and putting 
his gun through the fork of the apple-tree, hailed 
the approaching band. Having repeated his hail, 
and received no answer, and perceiving that the 
party still rapidly advanced, and were now only a 
few rods distant, he hred. A volley was returned, 
which killed the soldier, who, having aroused the 
inmates of the house, had followed young Jackson, 
and was standing near him. The other band of 
Tories had now emerged from the west end of the 
stable, and mistaking the discharge of the advance 
party, then nearly on a line between them and the 
apple-tree, for the fire of a sallying party from the 
house, commenced a sharp fire upon their own 
friends. Thus both parties were brought to a 
stand. Young Andrew, after discharging his gun, 
returned into the house ; and with two others com- 
menced a fire from the west door, where both of his 
companions were shot down, one of them with a 
mortal wound. 

The Tories still kept up the fire upon each other, 
as well as upon the house, until startled by the 
sound of a cavalry bugle in the distance,— they be- 
took themselves to their horses, and fled. The 
charge was sounded by a Major Isbel, of the neigh- 



18 LI FE OF 

bourhood, who had not a man with him, but, hear- 
ing the firing, and knowing that Lands was attacked, 
gave the blast upon his trumpet to alarm the assail- 
ants. 

General Jackson was then only fourteen years 
old ; but who does not recognise in the boy of 1781 
the general of 1814 ? By his fire from the apple- 
tree he brought the enemy to a stand, and saved his 
little party from capture and massacre ; by rushing 
down upon the enemy on the night of December, 
1814, he saved an army from capture, and a city 
from plunder. 

It was not Ions after the above occurrence that 
about forty of the Waxhaw settlers, among whom 
were young Jackson, had rendezvoused at the meet- 
ing-house. After their return from North Carolina, 
the British commander had despatched Major Coffin, 
with a corps of light dragoons, to the settlement. 
When the enemy approached the place of rendez- 
vous, they kept a band of Tories, dressed in the 
common garb of the country, in front, so that the 
patriots who had been in expectation of a friendly 
company, under Captain Nisbett, were completely 
deceived, and fell an easy prey to this stratagem. 
Eleven of them were taken prisoners, the rest with 
difficulty fled, scattering, and betaking themselves 



ANDREW JACKSON. 19 

to the woods for concealment. Of those who thus 
escaped, though closely pursued, were Andrew Jack- 
son and his brother, who, entering a secret bend in 
a creek that was close at hand, obtained a moment- 
ary respite from danger, and avoided, for the night, 
the pursuit of the enemy. The next day, however, 
having gone to a neighbouring house for the pur- 
pose of procuring something to eat, they were 
broken in upon, and made prisoners, by Coffin's dra- 
goons and a party of Tories who accompanied 
them. The young men, with a view to security, 
had placed their horses in the wood, on the margin 
of a small creek, and posted on the road which led 
by the house a sentinel, that they might have in- 
formation of any approach, and in time to be able 
to elude it. But the Tories, who were well ac- 
quainted with the country and the passes through 
the forest, had unfortunately passed the creek at the 
very point where the horses and baggage of our 
young soldiers were deposited, and taken possession 
of them. Having done this, they approached cau- 
tiously the house, and were almost at the door be- 
fore they were discovered. To escape was impos- 
sible, and both were made prisoners. Being placed 
under guard, Andrew was ordered, in a very impe- 
rious tone, by a British officer, to clean his boots. 



20 L I F E O F 

which had become muddied in crossing the creek. 
This order he positively and peremptorily refused 
to obey ; alleging that he looked for such treatment 
as a prisoner of war had a right to expect. In- 
censed at his refusal, the officer aimed a blow at his 
head with a drawn sword, which would very proba- 
bly have terminated his existence had he not parried 
its effects by throwing up his left hand, on which he 
received a severe wound, the mark of which he 
bore until his death. His brother, at the same time, 
for a similar offence, received a deep cut on the 
head, which subsequently occasioned his death. 
They were both now taken to jail, where, separated 
and confined, they were treated with marked sever- 
ity, until a few days after the battle before Camden, 
when, in consequence of a partial exchange, effected 
by the intercessions and exertions of their mother, 
and Captain Walker of the militia, they were both 
released from confinement. 

An anecdote may here be related, illustrative of 
young Jackson's energy of character. During his 
confinement at Camden, General Greene made his 
unsuccessful attack on the British forces stationed 
there under Lord Rawdon. Camden is situated on 
a hill. Greene had encamped on Hobkirk's Hill, 
about a mile distant, and in full view of the redoubt 
in which the prisoners were confined. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 21 

By the signs and sounds around him, on the 24th 
of x\pril, young Jackson became satisfied that the 
British intended to surprise the American army, 
which, under no apprehension of an attack, rested 
in perfect security. Jackson felt convinced that this 
would be attempted on the morning of the 25th, and 
he was most anxious to witness the conflict. This, 
however, was forbidden by the intervention of a 
thick plank fence, that ran around the redoubt, and 
completely shut out the view of the surrounding 
country. The board fence was thoroughly ex- 
amined, but not a hole or crevice was to be found 
through which his eager eye could obtain a view of 
Greene's encampment. As a last resource, he set 
to work with an old razor-blade, which had been 
furnished the prisoners to eat their rations with, and 
working during most of the night, he continued to 
dig one of the knots out of the pine planks, with 
which the fence was constructed, and through this 
he obtained a full view of Greene's encampment. 

During the next day, however, he was doomed to 
witness the defeat of the American army, with the 
reflection that his imprisonment was not only to be 
protracted, but to be shared with new victims to 
British cruelty. 



22 L I F E O F 



CHAPTER III. 

CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. STUDY OF LAW. 

HORTLY after their release, Andrew 
Jackson lost his only brother, who 
died from the effects of the wound 
received at the hands of the brutal 
officer, as related in the preceding chapter. 
To add to his afflictions, his mother, worn 
down by grief, and her incessant exertions to 
provide clothing and other comforts for the 
suffering prisoners who had been taken from her 
neighbourhood, expired in a few weeks after her 
son, near the lines of the enemy, in the vicinity of 
Charleston. He — the last and only surviving child, 
confined to a bed of sickness, occasioned by the 
sufferings he had been compelled to undergo while 
a prisoner, and by getting wet on his return from 
captivity — was thus left in the wide world without a 
human beinjT with whom he could claim near rela- 
tionship. The small-pox, about the same time, hav- 




ANDREW JACKSON. 23 

ing made its appearance upon him, had well-nigh 
terminated his sorrows and his existence. 

Recovering, however, from his comphcated afflic- 
tions, he entered upon the enjoyment of his estate, 
which, though small, would have been sufficient to 
have given him a liberal education. Circumstances, 
however, led to his expending this patrnnonial pro- 
perty with too profuse a hand. During the occupa- 
tion of Charleston by the British, a number of the 
polished inhabitants of that city had retired to the 
Waxhaw settlement, and there remained. With 
some of these young men Jackson had contracted 
habits of intimacy, and at the evacuation of Charles- 
ton he accompanied them in their return to the city. 
Not wishing to be behind his companions in expen- 
diture, his small property soon melted away, and he 
was left with only a fine mare, which he had carried 
along with him from the Waxhaw settlement. She 
too was at length staked against a sum of money 
in a game of " rattle and snap." Jackson won the 
game, and, taking a sudden resolution, he put the 
money in his pocket, paid his bill, and bidding adieu 
to his friends, he started for the Waxhaws. Here, 
having collected the httle remains of his property, 
he took leave of the friends of his youth, and start- 
ing for Salisbuiy, N. C, he placed himself in the 



24 L I F E O F 

office of Spruce M'Cay, ICsq., then an eminent coun- 
sellor there, with the view of preparing himself 
for the practice of law. This was in the winter 
of 1784. 

Thus did young Jackson, with an effort of his 
inborn energy, cut short his career of dissipation — 
and his reformation was thorough and enduring. 
He afterwards continued his studies under Colonel 
Stokes, also an eminent lawyer, and in a little more 
than two years received a license to practise law. 
As an evidence of the estimation in which he was 
at that time held by the influential men of North 
Carohna, he soon after received from the governor 
the appointment of Solicitor for the western district 
of that state — embracing the present state of Ten- 
nessee. 



A N D R E W J A C K S O N . 25 



CHAPTER IV. 

GENERAL JACKSON's EMIGRATION TO TENNESSEE. ANECDOTES 

OF HIS LIFE WHILE PRACTISING AS A LAWYER. 

N the year 1788, accompanied by Judge 
M'Nairy,GeneralJackson, then twenty- 
one years old, crossed the mountains, 
for the purpose of discharging the du- 
ties imposed upon him by his recent appoint- 
ment, and seeking employment in his profes- 
sion. He took up his residence for some 
time at Jonesborough, then the principal seat 
of Justice in the Western District. In the year 
1789, he visited the settlements on the Cumberland 
River. On account of the frequent and terrible 
forays made by the Choctaw and Cherokee Indians 
from the South, most of the settlers at this time 
were living in stations, and but few separate cabins 
were to be found ; and it was some time before these 
were scattered over the country. During this time, 
Jackson made frequent professional visits from 




26 L I F E O F 

Jonesborough to the settlements on the Cumberland, 
a distance of two hundred miles ; the hardships and 
perils of which journeys, it is difficult for the modern 
traveller, in steamboats and stages, to conceive. — 
Often, with his loaded rifle on his shoulder, his pis- 
tols, blanket and provisions strapped to his saddle, 
the young lawyer might be met on the dangerous 
route alone. Having to sleep out under the open 
sky, to ford deep and swollen streams, and not un- 
frequently to pass whole days without eating, while 
fat turkeys, and pheasants, and deer were on every 
side, which he dared not kill, lest the report of his 
rifle might alarm the lurking savage. Many anec- 
dotes and incidents occurring to our hero at this 
time, are strongly illustrative of the life of these 
early Western pioneers. 

On one occasion, with three companions, he was 
on his way from Jonesborough to the settlements 
on the Cumberland. When arriving, just before 
dark, on the east side of the Emory, where it issues 
from the mountains, they saw the fires of a large 
party of hostile Indians on the opposite bank. The 
party, by that instinct which discovers who among 
them is the master mind, immediately put them- 
selves under the guidance of Jackson. He at 
once led them backwards into the mountains, keep- 



ANDREW JACKSON. 27 

ing up the stream, for the purpose of fording it at 
some distance above, taking care, however, to leave 
no traces by which the Indians might follow them. 
They kept up the stream during the whole night, 
guided by the noise of its current, and in the morn- 
ing attempted to ford it, but found that it was too 
much swollen to be waded, and too rapid to be 
swum. Still fearing pursuit, they kept on until two 
o'clock, when they came to a place where the stream 
presented a smooth surface, with a cataract below, 
and another fall above. Still anxious to get the 
river between them and their late trail, they set 
about forming a raft. This being constructed from 
rude logs, bound together by hickory withes, and 
having made two oars, as well as a rudder, they 
commenced the passage across. It was cold March 
weather, and therefore of the utmost importance to 
keep their blankets and saddles, as well as their 
rifles and powder, from getting wet. It was con- 
cluded, therefore, that Jackson, with one other of 
the party, should first carry over all the moveables, 
and, returning, they could swim the horses after the 
raft. As soon as the raft had been pushed out from 
the shore, a strong under-current commenced forc- 
ing it toward the falls below. Jackson, regardless 
of the admonitions of his companions on the shore, 



28 L I F E O F 



continued for some time to struggle with his oars 
against the current, but perceiving that his exertions 
would be in vain, he at last endeavoured to bring 
the raft back to the bank from w hich he had started. 

With all his strength he was unable to bring it to 
land — the suck of the cataract had already seized 
it. A moment more, and the raft, with its passen- 
gers, would have been dashed to pieces, — when 
Jackson, wrenching one of his oars from its fasten- 
ings, sprung to the stern, and bracing himself there, 
held it out to his companions on the shore, who, for- 
tunately being \\ithin reach, seized hold of it and 
brought the raft to land. Reproached by his com- 
panions for not heeding them when they had first 
warned him, Jackson coolly replied, " a miss is as 
aood as a mile — ye see how I can crraze dancrer — 
come on, and I will save you yet." Re-equipping 
themselves, the parly resumed their march up the 
stream ; and having spent another night in the 
woods, supperless, they found a ford next morning 
— and next day reached a log cabin on their road, 
about forty miles from the Indian encampment. 

On another occasion, he reached the rendezvous 
of a party at Bean's Station, with which he was to 
cross the wilderness, the evening after they had left. 
With the intention of overtaking" them, he took a 







THE ESCAPE 



'-f ■^»Y*i^.■^^■ . :u '*v. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 29 

guide with him, who was well acquainted with In- 
dian traces, and travelled all night. Just before day 
he came to the place where his friends had en- 
camped the night previous, and from the traces the 
guide discovered that a party of Indians had gone 
in pursuit of them. Following on, they came so 
near the Indians that the guide refused to go any 
further. Jackson was determined to save his 
friends or perish ; and dividing his provisions with 
the guide, he suffered him to return, while he kept 
on after the Indians. At length the traces Df the 
Indians turned to the right from the route which 
the travellers had taken. Jackson, rightly conclud- 
ing that they had made a circuit, to head the party 
and attack them in the night, hastened his speed, 
and overtook his friends just before dark. Having 
just forded a deep and frozen stream, they were 
drying their clothes and warming themselves by the 
fires which they had kindled. Taking advice from 
Jackson, they resumed their journey, and continued 
it during the whole night and the next day. It had 
now commenced to snow, and the sky portended a 
severe storm. Arriving at the log cabins of some 
hunters, they requested shelter and protection dur- 
ing the night. They were, contrary to their ex- 
pectations, rudely refused. Jackson, wearied with 



So LIFE OF 

the journey, and having been two nights without 
sleep, wrapped himself in his blanket, and lay down 
by the trunk of a large tree, where he slept sound- 
ly ; and when awaking in the morning, he found 
himself covered with six inches of snow. The 
party resumed their march, and reached their des- 
tination in safety ; but they afterwards learned that 
the hunters, who had refused them shelter, had been 
every one butchered by the Indians who had pur- 
sued them. 



ANDREW JACKSON 



31 



CHAPTER V. 




JACKSON LOCATES HIMSELF PERMANENTLY AT NASHVILLE. 

HIS MARRIAGE. 



FTER making several professional 
visits, back and forth, from Jonesbo- 
^ rough to the settlement on the Cum- 
' berland, Jackson, wisely judging that 
Nashville offered tempting inducements to a 
young lawyer, concluded to make a permanent 
W location in that place. 
\ It had not been Jackson's intention certainly 

to make Tennessee the place of his future residence; 
his visit was merely experimental, and his stay re- 
mained to be determined by the advantages that 
might be disclosed: but finding, soon after his ar- 
rival, that a considerable opening was offered for 
the success of a young attorney, he determined to 
remain. To one of refined feelings, the prospect 
before him was certainly not of an encouraging cast. 
As in all newly-settled countries must be the case. 



32 LIFE OF 

society was loosely formed, and united by but few 
of those ties which have a tendency to enforce the 
performance of moral duty, and the right execution 
of justice. The young men of the place, adventu- 
rers from different sections of the country, had be- 
come indebted to the merchants; there was but one 
lawyer in the country, and they had so contrived as 
to retain him in their business; the consequence 
was, that the merchants were entirely deprived of 
the means of enforcing against the delinquents the 
execution of their contracts. In this state of things, 
Jackson made his appearance at Nashville, and, 
while the creditor class looked to it with great satis- 
faction, the debtors were sorely displeased. Appli- 
cations were immediately made to him for his pro- 
fessional services, and on the morning after his 
arrival he issued seventy writs. To those prodigal 
gentlemen it was an alarming circumstance; their 
former security was impaired ; but that it might not 
wholly depart, they determined to force him, in some 
way or other, to leave the country ; and to effect 
this, broils and quarrels with him were to be resorted 
to. This, however, was soon abandoned; satisfied, 
by the first controversy in which they had involved 
him, that his decision and firmness were such as to 



ANDREW JACKSON. 33 

leave no hope of effecting anything through this 
channel. 

Frequent expeditions were undertaken from Nash- 
ville about this time, against the Indians, in most of 
which Jackson took part. These continued until 
1794, when a large party, among whom was our 
hero, attacked and destroyed the Indian town of 
Nickajack, near the Tennessee river. 

In these affairs. General Jackson, by his courage 
and gallantry, had so distinguished himseff, as to 
have obtained the sobriquet of " Sharp Knife" from 
his tawny foemen. He had also gained the confi- 
dence of the hardy hunters whom he accompanied. 

When Jackson first located himself in the town 
of Nashville, hotels and boarding-houses were to- 
tally unknown ; the stranger or traveller finding 
himself welcome at the firesides of the hospitable 
settlers, who, in their turn, were glad of the addi- 
tional protection thus afforded them from the attacks 
of the savage Indian. 

Jackson and his friend, the late Judge Overton, 
became boarders in the family of Mrs. Donelson, a 
widow lady, who had emigrated from Virginia, first 
to Kentucky, afterwards to Nashville. Mrs. Ro- 
bards, her daughter, who afterwards became the 
wife of General Jackson, was then living in the fa- 

c 



34 LIFE OP 

mily with her mother. On account of some ill 
treatment which she had received at the hands of 
her husband, Mrs. Robards had followed her mother 
to Tennessee. A reconcihation had taken place 
between Robards and his wife, but had been shortly 
after followed by a fresh outbreak; and hearing 
that Robards threatened to carry her back to Ken- 
tucky, Mrs. Robards, with the advice of her friends, 
determined to decend the river as far as Natchez, 
in company with Colonel Stark, who was then pre- 
paring for the voyage. Stark being an elderly man, 
and apprehensive of danger, invited Jackson to ac- 
company him. Jackson accepted the invitation ; 
and after seeing the little party safely to their jour- 
ney's end, returned to Nashville. 

In the meantime, Robards applied for and obtained 
a divorce ; upon hearing which, Jackson returned to 
Natchez, and having paid his addresses to the lady 
in question, was accepted. In the fall of 1791 they 
were married, and returned to Nashville, amid the 
joyous congratulations of her relatives, and a large 
circle of mutual friends. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 35 



CHAPTER VI. 

JACKSON BECOMES A SENATOR IN THE U. S. CONGRESS. RE- 
SIGNS. IS APPOINTED JUDGE OF THE SUPREME COURT. 



FTER his marriage, Jackson applied 
himself assiduously to his profes- 
sion. But the war which he had 
waged against the debtors, on his 
first settling in Nashville, had created many 
and bitter enemies, who now sought every 
means to disgrace and annoy him. Personal 
quarrels were sought with him, and " bullies,*' 
a species of characters who were at this time found 
in great numbers in the Western settlements, were 
employed to attack him. 

While he was attending a court in Sumner County, 
one of these, instigated no doubt by some enemy of 
Jackson, approached him in the street, and rudely 
assaulted him. Jackson pushed the man off to a dis- 
tance, and laying hold of a slab, thrust him in the 
breast so forcibly that the bully was brought to the 




36 LIFE OF 

ground. Recovering, however, he again prepared 
for fight. The crowd here interfered to prevent 
further conflict, but at the entreaty of Jackson again 
stood aside. Poising his slab, with a firm step and 
a steady eye, Jackson advanced upon his anta- 
gonist, who, at his approach, dropped his weapon, 
jumped the fence and took to the woods. The re- 
sult of a few encounters such as this, freed him ever 
after from all such annoyances. 

In 1795, the people of Tennessee took measures 
for forming a state government, wdth a view to ad- 
mission into the Union. Jackson, without offering 
himself as a candidate, was elected as one of the 
members of the Convention. 

In June, 1796, Tennessee became by an act of 
Congress, one of the United States, and on the same 
footing with the others. It was only entitled to one 
representative in Congress, and General Jackson 
was elected as that representative without having 
been a candidate. He took his seat in the House 
of Representatives on the 5th day of December, 
1796. Having served one session as a representa- 
tive, he was elected to the Senate of the United 
States, and took his seat in November, 1797. Un- 
ambitious, however, of political distinction, he re- 
signed in one year after his election, and returned 
to his home at Nashville. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 37 

Soon after, the Legislature of Tennessee conferred 
upon him the appointment of Judge of the Supreme 
Court. His first court was held at Jonesborough. 
An incident occurred during the sitting of this court, 
which is illustrative, both of the rudeness of the 
times, and of the firmness of Jackson. 

A man named Russel Bean had been indicted for 
cutting off the ears of his infant child in a drunken 
frolic. Bean was in the court yard ; but, from his 
well-known ferocity of character, and from his 
threats to shoot any one who would dare to take 
him, the sheriff had made the return to the court, 
that " Russel Bean will not be taken." " He must be 
taken," said the judge, " and if necessary you can 
summon the posse comitatusJ^^ The mortified sheriff 
retired, and waiting till the court adjourned for 
dinner, summoned the judges themselves as part of 
the posse. Conceiving that this was a ruse on the 
part of the sheriff to avoid a dangerous piece of 
service. Judge Jackson replied, " Yes sir, I will 
attend you, and see that you do your duty." — 
Learning that Bean was armed, Jackson requested 
a loaded pistol, which was instantly put into his 
hand. He then said to the sheriff, "Advance, and 
arrest him — I will protect you from harm !" Bean, 
armed with a dirk and a brace of pistols, assumed 
an attitude of defiance ; but when the judge drew 



■^8 LIFE OF 

near he began to retreat. " Stop, and submit to the 
law !" cried the judge. The culprit stopped, threw 
down his pistols, and replied, " I will surrender to 
you, sir, but to no one else;" and so saying he quietly 
permitted himself to be taken prisoner. This con- 
duct of Judge Jackson had a wholesome effect on 
the turbulent spirits of the country. 

In 1804, Judge Jackson sent in his resignation 
to the Legislature, which was accepted by that 
body, in July, about six years after his appointment. 
Unambitious of those distinctions and honours, 
which young men are usually proud to possess, and 
finding too that his circumstances and condition in 
life were not such as to permit his time and atten- 
tion to be devoted to pubhc matters, he determined 
to yield them into other hands, and to devote him- 
self to agricultural pursuits ; and accordingly settled 
himself on an excellent farm, ten miles from Nash- 
ville, on the Cumberland river ; where, for several 
years, he enjoyed all the comforts of domestic and 
social intercourse. Abstracted from the busy scenes 
of public life, pleased with retirement, surrounded 
by friends whom he loved, and who entertained for 
him the highest veneration and respect, and blessed 
with an amiable and affectionate wife, nothing seemed 
wanting to the completion of that happiness which 
he so anxiously desired while in office. 




'"^^-v 



JACKSON AS JUDGE 



ANDREW JACKSON. 39 



CHAPTER VII. 

FROM HIS RESIGNATION AS JUDGE TILL 1812. 

REVIOUS to the resignation of Jack- 
son as Judge, he had been elected 
Major-General of the Tennessee mi- 
litia ; which office, as it did not much 
interfere with his domestic pursuits, 
he still continued to hold. 

During his residence upon his farm, one 
of his favourite employments was in the 
raising of fine cattle; and though not an enthu- 
siastic sportsman, he brought out his favourite 
horses upon the race-courses of the day. 

An unfortunate quarrel, about a bet upon one of 
these match-races, occurred between him and a Mr. 
Charles Dickinson, which resulted in a duel. In the 
duel Dickinson, who had borne the character of a 
crack-shot and duellist, was killed. There are few, 
however, except the immediate friends of Dickinson, 
who attach any blame to Jackson, — as, under the 




40 LIFE OF 

provocation which he had received from the former, 
and considering the state of society as it existed in 
Tennessee at this time, it would have been im- 
possible for him to avoid the encounter. It is 
said that Dickinson, previous to the duel, had been 
making bets that he would kill him, and boasting 
how often he had hit the general chalked out upon 
a tree. He did in fact hit General Jackson in the 
duel, but fortunately the ball, lodging in his breast, 
did not penetrate. Two of his ribs were shattered 
near the breast-bone. Jackson had gone upon the 
ground with the full conviction that his life was 
eagerly sought, and with the expectation of losing 
it ; but his was a bosom that never knew fear. 

Shortly after this. General Jackson entered into 
partnership with a merchant in Nashville — though 
he took no active part in the business himself After 
a time, however, he began to suspect that the busi- 
ness was not going on right, and upon demanding a 
full investigation, he found that his partner, in 
whom he had placed the utmost confidence, had 
already involved him for many thousand dollars of 
debts. He closed the business, sold the fine planta- 
tion upon which he lived, and paying off his debts 
with the proceeds of the sale, he retired into a log 
cabin, to be^in the world anew. From the humble 



ANDREW JACKSON. 41 

dwelling, into which he had moved, he could see the 
fine house and plantation so lately his own — ad- 
monishing him of the danger of connection with 
others in business, and of the contracting of debts. 
It was not long, however, before he became com- 
fortable in the world. 



42 LIFE OF 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ADVENTURE WITH THE INDIAN AGENT. 

N the year 1811, Jackson had occasion 
to travel to Natchez on business. The 
road from Nashville to the former place 
passed through the Choctaw and Chick- 
asaw nations, and there was an Indian agent 
for the Choctaws stationed upon it. On ar- 
rivino- at this station, General Jackson found 
some seven or eight famiUes detained here, 
as well as two members of the Mississippi Legisla- 
tive Council, by the agent, upon the plea that they 
had no passports. They were remaining there until 
their passports could reach them, one of their num- 
ber having gone back for the purpose of procuring 
them. Some of the persons thus prevented from 
executing their journey, were purchasing corn from 
the agent to feed their cattle, at a very high price, 
and had been employed by him to split rails at a 
very low price. 




ANDREW JACKSON. 43 

When Jackson understood these things, he be- 
came very angry, and reproached the two mennbers 
for submitting to such treatment at the hands of the 
mercenary agent. The agent hearing this, inquired 
in an impertinent manner if he had a pass. " Yes, 
sir," said Jackson ; " I always carry my passport 
with me when I travel : I am a free American citizen, 
and that is a passport all over the world." "We 
shall see," said the agent. "Very well, we shall 
see," was the reply of Jackson ; and calling upon 
the wagoners to gear up their wagons, and shoot 
any one down who should attempt to obstruct them, 
he led the whole party away. 

On his return, however, he understood that the 
agent had collected about one hundred and fifty 
men, white and Indian, to stop him, unless he pro- 
cured a passport. He would not, though advised 
by his friends, procure one, believing as he said, that 
no American citizen should submit to the insult of 
carrying a pass to enable him to travel through his 
own country. He double armed himself, however, 
prepared for any emergency; and, on nearing the 
station of the agent, he put axes and other arms 
into the hands of a number of blacks, whom he was 
carrying from Natchez to the upper country, telling 
them how and when to use them. As had been re- 



44 LIFE OF 

ported, the agent had collected a goodly number of 
men to stop him. Jackson approached, and upon 
the agent's asking him whether he meant to stop 
and show his passport, Jackson replied, "That de- 
pends on circumstances ; I am told that you mean 
to stop me by force ; whoever attempts such a thing 
will not have long to live !" His determined manner 
had such an effect, that the agent was glad to let 
him pass on quietly. The Indians, whose chiefs 
were acquainted with Jackson, " Sharp Knife," now 
approached and shook hands with him ; and those 
bold sons of the forest were so much struck with 
his courage, that if he had only commanded it, they 
would have turned round and scalped the agent in 
his stead. He afterwards reported the conduct of 
the agent to government, and he was dismissed from 
his agency. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 45 



CHAPTER IX. 

WAR OF 1812. EXPEDITION TO NATCHEZ. 

IE now come to that period in the 

life of General Jackson, when his 

great military talents, that had 

hitherto remained unemployed, and 

in fact unknown, were to be called into 

action. 

The government of the United States, 
after patiently submitting to many insults 
and injuries from Great Britain, declared war 
against that country in the month of June, 1812. 
Jackson at this time, happy on his farm, and re- 
tired, as he apparently thought, for ever, from all 
public affairs — though only forty-five years of age 
— was again roused by the insults offered to his 
country, by the wrongs inflicted upon her citizens, 
and by the recollection, no doubt, of the death of 
his mother, of the death of his brother Robert, of 




46 L I F E O F 

the cause of those deaths ; and, if he could have 
forgotten the horrid account of the injuries inflicted 
upon the country of his father and his mother, there 
was that scar on his hand, inflicted by a British offi- 
cer, who had aimed a blow at his life because he 
had refused to clean the dirt oflf his boots ; there 
was that scar to keep his virtuous resentment alive, 
even if he could have forgotten the wrongs of Ire- 
land, and the ruin or extermination of every rela- 
tion in the world. 

In answer to a spirited address from him, 2500 
volunteers flocked to his standard — prepared to fol- 
low wheresoever he might see fit to lead them. He 
received orders to place himself at their head, and 
to descend the Mississippi, for the defence of the 
lower country, which was then supposed to be in 
danger. Accordingly, on the 10th of December, 
1812, those troops rendezvoused at Nashville, pre- 
pared to advance to the place of their destination ; 
and although the weather was then excessively se- 
vere, and the ground covered with snow, no troops 
could have displayed greater firmness. 

Having procured supplies, and made the neces- 
sary arrangements for an active campaign, they 
proceeded, the 7th of January, 1813, on their jour- 
ney; and descending the Ohio and Mississippi, 



ANDREW JACKSON. 47 

through cold and ice, arrived and halted at 
Natchez. Here Jackson had been instructed to 
remain until he should receive further orders. Hav- 
ing chosen a healthful site for the encampment of his 
troops, he devoted his time, with the utmost indus- 
try, to training and preparing them for active ser- 
vice. The clouds of war, however, in that quarter, 
having blown over, an order was received from the 
secretary of war, dated 5th of January, 1813, di- 
recting him, on the receipt thereof, to dismiss those 
under his command from service, and to take mea- 
sures for delivering over every article of public pro- 
perty in his possession to Brigadier-general Wilkin- 
son. When this order reached his camp, there 
were one hundred and fifty on the sick report, fifty- 
six of whom were unable to raise their heads, and 
almost the whole of them destitute of the means of 
defraying the expenses of their return. The con- 
sequence of a strict compliance with the secretary's 
order inevitably would have been, that many of the 
sick must have perished ; while most of the others, 
from their destitute condition, would, of necessity, 
have been compelled to enlist in the regular army, 
under General Wilkinson. 

Jackson was, as a matter of course, very much 
astonished at the reception of such an order, the 



48 L I F E O F 

consequence of obeying which, he clearly saw, 
would be the death of many of the brave young 
men whom he had brought with him from Tennes- 
see, and to whom he had given his promise, before 
they had left their homes, that he would be to them 
as a father and the guardian of their welfare. 

He saw, moreover, that the design of the order 
had been a concerted thing, between the secretary 
of war, Armstrong, and General Wilkinson, com- 
mandant of the United States regular army in the 
south-western department — who by this means ex- 
pected to recruit largely from among these young 
men, who, now, unable to return home, would be 
obliged to enter the ranks of the regular army. 
Moreover, General Wilkinson was jealous of Jack- 
son, whose authority as major-general was equal to 
his own, if not greater, and their commands were 
likely to interfere with each other. Under these 
circumstances, Jackson determined to disobey the 
orders of the secretary. 

Having made known his resolution to the field- 
officers of his division, it met, apparently, their ap- 
probation ; but, after retiring from his presence, 
they assembled late at night, in secret caucus, and 
proceeded to recommend to him an abandonment 
of his purpose, and an immediate discharge of his 



A JN D R E W JACKSON. 49 

troops. Great as was the astonishment which this 
measure excited in the General, it produced a still 
higher sentiment of indignation. In reply, he urged 
the duplicity of their conduct, and reminded them, 
that although to those who possessed funds and 
health such a course could produce no inconve- 
nience, yet to the unfortunate soldier, who was alike 
destitute of both, no measure could be more calami- 
tous. He concluded by telling them that his reso- 
lution, not having been hastily concluded on, nor 
founded on light considerations, was unalterably 
fixed; and that immediate preparations must be 
made for carrying into execution the determination 
he had formed. 

During these negotiations, the officers of General 
Wilkinson had arrived in the camp, with the inten- 
tion of recruiting from the volunteer army. As 
soon as Jackson became apprised of this, he gave 
orders, that any officer found recruiting from among 
his troops, that were already in the service of the 
United States, should be arrested and confined. 
The quarter-master had been ordered to provide the 
means for transporting the sick and baggage, and 
pretended to be making these necessary arrange- 
ments. To keep up the appearance of doing so, 
and the better to deceive, he had ordered a number 



50 L I F E O F 

of wagons into the camp. The next morning, how- 
ever, when everything was about to be packed up, 
acting doubtless by orders from Wilkinson, and in- 
tending to produce embarrassment, the quarter- 
master entered the encampment, and discharged the 
whole. He was grossly mistaken in the man he 
had to deal with, and had now played his tricks too 
far to be able to accomphsh the object which he had, 
no doubt, been instructed to effect. Disregarding 
their dismissal, so evidently designed to prevent his 
marching back his men. General Jackson seized 
upon these wagons, yet within his lines, and com- 
pelled them to proceed to the transportation of his 
sick. It deserves to be recollected that this quarter- 
master, so soon as he received directions for fur- 
nishing transportation, had despatched an express 
to General Wilkinson ; and there can be but little 
doubt, that the course of duplicity he afterwards 
pursued was a fconcerted plan, between him and that 
general, to defeat the design of .Jackson, compel him 
to abandon the course he had adopted, and in this 
way draw to the regular army many of the soldiers, 
who, from necessity, would be driven to enlist. In 
this attempt they were fortunately disappointed. 
Adhering to his original purpose, he successfully 
resisted every stratagem of Wilkinson, and marched 



ANDREW JACKSON. 51 

the whole of his division to the section of country 
whence they had been drawn, and dismissed them 
from service, as he had been instructed. 

The conduct of General Jackson in this affair, 
wrong as it at first appeared, was in the end ap- 
proved by the government. Every man, whose 
heart is the seat of justice, will applaud him for 
stubbornly resisting these crafty suggestions of 
envy ; and it should be told here, that Armstrong, 
who gave the order for this act of oppression, was 
disgraced and degraded, not many months after- 
ward, for his scandalous neglect to prepare for the 
defence of the city of Washington, where he was 
residing ; and that Wilkinson, who was appointed 
to put the order into execution, and to supplant 
Jackson, was sufficiently disgraced, in less than two 
years from that day, on the confines of Canada. 



52 



LIFE OF 



CHAPTER X. 



THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN 




HE repose of General Jackson and 
his volunteers, was not of long dura- 
tion. After his return from Natchez, 
the Indian nations scattered over the 
country, nov^^ called Alabama and Mississippi, 
had begun to harass the frontier settlements ; 
and instigated by the celebrated chief, Tecuni- 
seh, as well as secretly encouraged by the 
British government, threatened a general rising and 
massacre of the whites on their borders. The 
Creeks, residing in Alabama, near the Coosa and 
Tallapoosa rivers, were the most hostile of all these 
tribes. 

There was a large number of these Indians, par- 
ticularly the old men, who advocated peace and 
alliance with the United States government; but 
these were, in the end, obliged to give up, many of 
them losiuix their Uves in a kind of civil war which 



ANDREW JACKSON. 53 

ensued. Through a system of false prophets which 
Tecumseh had succeeded in establishing, these de- 
luded savages were taught to believe that the time 
had come when the white race were to be extermi- 
nated. 

Fort Mimms, situated in the Tensaw settlement 
in the Mississippi territory, was the first point des- 
tined to satiate their cruelty and vengeance. It 
contained, at that time, about one hundred and fifty 
men, under the command of Major Beasley, besides 
a considerable number of women and children, who 
had betaken themselves to it for security. Having 
collected a supply of ammunition from the Spaniards 
at Pensacola, and assembled their warriors to the 
number of six or seven hundred, the war party, 
commanded by Weatherford, a distinguished chief 
of the nation, on the 30th of August, 1813, com- 
menced their assault on the fort ; and having suc- 
ceeded in carrying it, put to death nearly three hun- 
dred persons, including women and children, with 
the most savage barbarity. The slaughter was in- 
discriminate ; mercy was extended to none ; and 
the tomahawk, at the same stroke, often cleft the 
mother and the child. But seventeen of the whole 
number in the fort escaped to bring intelhgence of 
the dreadful catastrophe. This monstrous and un- 



54 L I F E O F 

provoked outrage no sooner reached Tennessee than 
the whole state was thrown into a ferment, and 
nothing was thought or spoken of but retaliatory 
vengeance. 

It is unnecessary to detail the proceedings of 
General Jackson after the receipt of this disastrous 
news. By the order of his government, he imme- 
diately called out the militia and volunteers to the 
number of 2500, and on the 10th of October reached 
Huntsville, on his line of march towards the Creek 
country. At the same time, an equal force under 
General Cocke had been ordered from East Ten- 
nessee; while another was despatched from Georgia 
under Major Floyd, to enter the Indian country on 
the east ; and a regiment of United States' soldiers, 
with the volunteers of Mississippi under General 
Claiborne, were to attack the hostile nations on the 
west. 

In consequence of the failure of army contractors 
to supply provisions, without which it was utterly 
impossible to proceed, General Jackson was detained 
for nearly a month in the neighbourhood of the 
Tennessee river, without being able to penetrate the 
hostile territory, and strike a decisive blow. Gen- 
eral Cocke, who was under a promise to furnish 
provisions, as well as under orders to unite with 



ANDREW JACKSON. 55 

Jackson, kept aloof from motives of jealousy. 
Jackson had established his head quarters on the 
Coosa, at a place called " Ten Islands," where he 
erected a fort and depot, to be called "Fort Strother." 
Learning now that a considerable body of the 
enemy had posted themselves at Tallushatchee, on 
the south side of the Coosa, about thirteen miles 
distant. General Coffee was detached with nine 
hundred men (the mounted troops having been pre- 
viously organized into a brigade, and placed under 
his command) to attack and disperse them. With 
this force he was enabled, through the direction of 
an Indian pilot, to ford the Coosa at the Fish-dams, 
about four miles above the islands ; and having en- 
camped beyond it, very early the next morning pro- 
ceeded to the execution of his order. Havinor ar- 
rived within a mile and a half, he formed his detach- 
ment into two divisions, and directed them to march 
so as to encircle the town, by uniting their fronts 
beyond it. The enemy, hearing of his approach, 
began to prepare for action, which was announced 
by the beating of drums, mingled with their savage 
yells and war-whoops. An hour after sunrise, the 
action was commenced by Captain Hammond's and 
Lieutenant Patterson's companies of spies, who had 
gone within the circle of alignement for the purpose 



56 L I F E O F 

of drawing the Indians from their buildings. No 
sooner had these companies exhibited their front in 
view of the town, and given a few scattering shot, 
than the enemy formed, and made a violent charge. 
Being compelled to give way, the advance-guard 
were pursued until they reached the main body of 
the army, which immediately opened a general fire, 
and charged in their turn. The Indians retreated, 
firing, until they got around and in their buildings, 
where an obstinate conflict ensued, and where those 
who maintained their ground, persisted in fighting 
as long as they could stand or sit, without mani- 
festing fear or soliciting quarter. Their loss was a 
hundred and eighty-six killed ; among whom were, 
unfortunately, and through accident, a few women 
and children. Eighty-four women and children 
were taken prisoners, towards whom the utmost 
humanity was shown. Of the Americans, five were 
killed, and forty-one wounded. Two were killed 
with arrows, which on this occasion formed a prin- 
cipal part of the arms of the Indians ; each one 
having a bow and quiver, which he used after the 
first fire of his gun, until an opportunity occurred 
for reloading. 

Having buried his dead, and provided for his 
wounded. General Coffee, late in the evening of the 



ANDREW JACKSON. 57 

same day, united with the main army, bringing with 
him about forty prisoners ; of the residue, a part 
were too badly wounded to be removed, and were, 
therefore, left with a sufficient number to take care 
of them. Those whom he brought in, received 
every comfort and assistance their situation de- 
manded, and for safety were immediately sent into 
the settlements. 

From the manner in which the enemy fought, the 
killing and wounding others than their warriors 
could not be avoided. On their retreat to their 
village, after the commencement of the battle, they 
resorted to their block-houses and strong log dwell- 
ings, whence they kept up resistance, and for a long 
time protracted the fight. Thus mingled with their 
women and children it was impossible to prevent 
numbers of the latter from falling a sacrifice, and 
many were injured, though every precaution was 
taken to prevent it. In fact, many of the women 
united with their warriors, and contended in the 
battle with a fearless and heroic bravery worthy of 
the Helvetian matrons. 

A pleasing incident in the life of General Jackson, 
is recorded in connection with the destruction of 
Tallushatchee. Among the slain was found an 
Indian woman with an infant, a boy, unhurt, sucking 



58 L I F E O F 

her lifeless breast. The little orphan was carried to 
camp along with other prisoners, and General Jack- 
son tried to hire some of the captive Indian women 
to take care of him. They obstinately refused, say- 
ing: "All his people dead — kill him too." There 
was a little sugar still left in the camp, and with this 
the babe was nourished, until he could be sent to a 
nurse at Huntsville, which was afterwards done. 
Upon General Jackson's return home, he took the 
babe with him, and with the cordial aid of Mrs. 
Jackson, raised him as tenderly as if he had been 
his own son. He named the boy Lincoyer, and 
gave him an education equal to that of the white 
boys of the most respectable families. Lincoyer 
grew up a strong and handsome young man, yet his 
tastes were always Indian. He delighted in rambling 
away, into the forest, and ornamenting himself with 
gay and brilliant feathers, and when the chiefs of 
the Creek nation would visit the Hermitage, (the 
residence of General Jackson,) which they often did 
after the war, he never saw them depart without 
sighing to return to the wild forest land of his 
nativity. 

At length General Jackson carried him to Nash- 
ville and desired him to select a trade. He was 
best pleased with the saddlers' business, to which he 



ANDREW JACKSON. 59 

was bound an apprentice. He continued to work 
for some time at his trade, paying regular visits to 
the Hermitage on Saturdays, and returning to his 
duty on Monday morning. His health, however, 
began to decline, and General Jackson took him 
home to his own house, where he was most tenderly 
waited on, both by himself and Mrs. Jackson, but in 
vain. He sank rapidly into a consumption, which 
ended his short career ere he had reached the age 
of manhood. He was mourned by the General and 
Mrs. Jackson as though they had lost a favourite 
son, and was ever after spoken of by them with 
parental affection. 



60 L I F E O F 




CHAPTER XI. 

BATTLE OF TALLADEGA. 

S yet no certain intelligence was re- 
ceived of any collection of the enemy. 
The army was busily engaged in for- 
tifying and strengthening the site fixed 
a depot, to which the name of Fort 
Strother had been given. Late, however, on 
fx the evening of the 7th November, a runner 
\ arrived from Talladega, a fort of the friendly 
Indians, distant about thirty miles below, with in- 
formation that the enemy had that morning en- 
camped before it in great numbers, and would cer- 
tainly destroy it unless immediate assistance could 
be afforded. Jackson, confiding in the statement, 
determined to lose no time in extending the relief 
which was solicited. 

Accordingly he issued marching orders, and 
crossed the Coosa river, at midnight on the 7th 
of November, with his whole disposable force, con- 



ANDREW JACKSON. Gl 

sisting of 1200 infantry and 800 cavalry. Next 
evening his army lay within six niiles of Talladega. 
Next morning he marched against the enemy, who 
were encamped at the distance of a quarter of a 
mile from the fort which they were besieging. 
About eight o'clock, A. M., the advance having 
arrived within eighty yards of the enemy, who were 
concealed in a thick shrubbery that covered the 
margin of a small rivulet, received a heavy fire, 
which they instantly returned with much spirit. 
Falling in with the enemy, agreeably to their in- 
structions, they retired towards the centre, but not 
before they had dislodged them from their position. 
The Indians, now screaming and yelhng hideously, 
rushed forward in the direction of General Roberts' 
brigade, a few companies of which, alarmed by their 
numbers and yells, gave way at the first fire. Jack- 
son, to fill the chasm which was thus created, di- 
rected the regiment commanded by Colonel Bradley 
to be moved up, which, from some unaccountable 
cause, had failed to advance in a line with the 
others, and now occupied a position in rear of the 
centre : Bradley, however, to whom this order was 
given by one of the staff, omitted to execute it in 
time, alleging he was determined to remain on the 
eminence which he then possessed until lie should 



62 L I F E O F 

be approached and attacked by the enemy. Owing 
to this failure in the volunteer regiment, it became 
necessary to dismount the reserve, which, with great 
firmness, met the approach of the enemy, who were 
rapidly moving in this direction. The retreating 
militia, somewhat mortified at seeing their places so 
promptly supplied, rallied, and, recovering their for- 
mer position in the Hne, aided in checking the ad- 
vance of the savages. The action now became 
general along the line, and in fifteen minutes the 
Indians were seen flying in every direction. On the 
left they were met and repulsed by the mounted 
riflemen; but on the right, owing to the halt of 
Bradley's regiment, which was intended to occupy 
the extreme right, and to the circumstance of Colonel 
Allcorn, who commanded one of the wings of the 
cavalry, having taken too large a circuit, a consid- 
erable space was left between the infantry and the 
cavalry, through which numbers escaped. The 
fight was maintained with great spirit and effect on 
both sides, as well before as after the retreat com- 
menced ; nor did the pursuit and slaughter terminate 
until the mountains were reached, at the distance 
of three miles. 

In this battle, the force of the enemy was one 
thousand and eighty, of whom two hundred and 



ANDREW JACKSON. 63 

ninety-nine were left dead on the ground ; and it is 
believed that many were killed in the flight, who 
were not found when the estimate was made. Prob- 
ably few escaped unhurt. Their loss on this occa- 
sion, as stated since by themselves, was not less 
than six hundred : that of the Americans was fifteen 
killed and eighty wounded, several of whom after- 
ward died. Jackson, after collecting his dead and 
wounded, advanced his army beyond the fort, and 
encamped for the night. The Indians who had 
been for several days shut up by the besiegers, thus 
fortunately liberated from the most dreadful appre- 
hensions and severest privations, having for some 
time been entirely without water, received the army 
with all the demonstrations of gratitude that savages 
could give. Their manifestations of joy for their 
deliverance presented an interesting and affecting 
spectacle. Their fears had been already greatly 
excited, for it was the very day when they were to 
have been assaulted, and when every soul within the 
fort must have perished. 



61: LIF E O F 



CHAPTER XII. 

FAMINE AND DESERTION OF HIS ARMY. ANECDOTE OF 

THE ACORNS. 



N account of the want of provisions, 
Jackson was unable to follow up the 
successful blow struck at Talladega, 
and was compelled to retreat to Fort 
Strother. But on his arrival here, he found 
that through the stupid mismanagement, and 
perhaps jealousy of General Cocke, no supphes 
had arrived even here, and the soldiers now 
began to show signs of discontent. 

A few dozen biscuits, which remained on his re- 
turn, were given to hungry applicants, without being 
tasted by himself or family, who were probably not 
less hungry than those who were thus relieved. A 
scanty supply of indifferent beef, taken from the 
enemy or purchased of the Cherokees, was now the 
only support afforded. Thus left destitute, Jackson, 
with the utmost cheerfulness of temper, repaired to 




ANDREW JACKSON. 65 

the bullock-pen, and of the offal there thrown away, 
provided for himself and staff what he was pleased 
to call, and seemed really to think, a very comfort- 
able repast. Tripes, however, hastily provided in a 
camp, without bread or seasoning, can only be pala- 
table to an appetite very highly whetted; yet this con- 
stituted for several days the only diet at head-quar- 
ters, during which time the General seemed entirely 
satisfied with his fare. Neither this nor the liberal 
donations by which he disfurnished himself to relieve 
the suffering soldier, deserves to be ascribed to osten- 
tation or design : the one flowed from benevolence, 
the other from necessity, and a desire to place be- 
fore his men an example of patience and suffering 
which he felt might be necessary, and hoped might 
be serviceable. Of these two imputations no human 
being, invested with rank and power, was ever more 
deservedly free. Charity in him was a warm and 
active propensity of the heart, urging him, by an in- 
stantaneous impulse, to relieve the wants of the 
distressed, without regarding, or even thinking of, 
the consequences. Many of those to whom it was 
extended had no conception of the source that sup- 
plied them, and believed the comforts they received 
were, indeed, drawn from stores provided for the 
hospital department. 

E 



66 L I F E O F 

On this campaign, a soldier one morning, with a 
wo-begone countenance, approached the General, 
stating that he was nearly starved, that he had 
nothing to eat, and could not imagine what he 
should do. He was the more encouraged to com- 
plain, from perceiving that the General, who had 
seated himself at the root of a tree, waiting the 
coming up of the rear of the army, was busily 
engaged in eating something. The poor fellow was 
impressed with the belief, from what he saw, that 
want only attached to the soldiers ; and that the 
officers, particularly the General, were liberally and 
well supphed. He accordingly approached him with 
great confidence of being relieved; Jackson told 
him that it had always been a rule with him never 
to turn away a hungry man when it was in his 
power to relieve him. " I will most cheerfully," said 
he, " divide with you what I have ;" and putting his 
hand to his pocket, drew forth a few acorns, from 
which he had been feasting, adding, it was the best 
and only fare he had. The soldier seemed much 
surprised, and forthwith circulated among his com- 
rades that their General was actually subsisting 
upon acorns, and that they ought hence no more to 
complain. From this circumstance was derived the 
story heretofore published to the world, that Jackson, 







JACKSON AND THE ACORNS 



ANDREW JACKSON. 67 

about the period of his greatest suffering, and with 
a view to inspirit them, had invited his officers to 
dine with him, and presented for their repast water 
and a tray of acorns. 

Notwithstanding the firmness and patriotism of 
their general, the army, consisting entirely of volun- 
teers and militia, now unable for want of provisions 
to penetrate the hostile territory, became anxious to 
return to their homes, and from a misunderstanding 
with regard to the term of service for which they 
had been enlisted, they believed that the time had 
expired. This was not so; and Jackson, deeply 
anxious to finish successfully the campaign, resolved 
to prevent such a disgraceful abandonment. Several 
times did the troops mutiny, and as often were they 
brought back to their duty by the talents and 
bravery of their general. One of these scenes may 
be presented as a specimen of the iron firmness of 
our hero. 

He had promised his army that unless supplies 
arrived on a certain day, he would grant their re- 
quest to return. The supplies did not arrive until 
they had commenced their march homeward, when 
they were met by one hundred and fifty beeves. 
This, of course, relieved Jackson from his promise, 
but so great was the aversion of his men to return 



68 L I F E O F 

to the camp, that they preferred breaking their word 
of honour. One company was already moving off 
in a direction towards home. They had proceeded 
some distance before information of their departure 
was had by Jackson. Irritated at their conduct, in 
attempting to violate the promise they had given, 
and knowing that the success of future operations 
depended on the result, the General pursued, until 
he came near a part of his staff and a few soldiers, 
who, with General Coffee, had halted about a quarter 
of a mile ahead. He ordered them to form imme- 
diately across the road, and to fire on the mutineers 
if they attempted to proceed. Snatching up their 
arms, these faithful adherents presented a front 
which threw the deserters mto affright, and caused 
them to retreat precipitately to the main body. 
Here it was hoped the matter would end, and that 
no further opposition would be made to returning. 
This expectation was not realized ; a mutinous 
temper began presently to display itself throughout 
the whole brigade. Jackson, having left his aid-de- 
camp. Major Reid, engaged in making up some 
despatches, had gone out alone among his troops, 
who were at some distance ; on his arrival he found 
a much more extensive mutiny than that which had 
just been quelled. Almost the whole brigade had 



ANDREW JACKSON. 69 

put itself into an attitude for moving forcibly off. A 
crisis had arrived; and, feeling its importance, he 
determined to take no middle ground, but to triumph 
or perish. He was still without the use of his left 
arm, but, seizing a musket, and resting it on the 
neck of his horse, he threw himself in front of the 
colunm, and threatened to shoot the first man who 
should attempt to advance. In this situation he was 
found by Major Reid and General Coffee; who, 
fearing, from the length of his absence, that some 
disturbance had arisen, hastened where he was, and 
placing themselves by his side, awaited the result in 
anxious expectation. For many minutes the column 
preserved a sullen, yet hesitating attitude, fearing to 
proceed in their purpose, and disliking to abandon 
it. In the mean time, those who remained faithful 
to their duty, amounting to about two companies, 
were collected and formed at a short distance in ad- 
vance of the troops and in rear of the General, with 
positive directions to imitate his example in firing if 
they attempted to proceed. At length, finding no 
one bold enough to advance, and overtaken by those 
fears which in the hour of peril always beset persons 
engaged in what they know to be a bad cause, they 
abandoned their purpose, and turning quietly round, 
agreed to return to their posts. 



70 L I F E O F 

Notwithstanding these efforts on the part of the 
General to detain them, the mutiny was not quelled, 
and they all looked forward to the 10th of December 
as the day on which they would be discharged. It 
will be recollected, that upon this day, twelve 
months ago, they had been enlisted to proceed to 
New Orleans, and as they had entered for a service 
of twelve months, they expected to be discharged at 
the end of that time, although they had not actually 
seen twelve months' service, having been discharged 
after their return from New Orleans. The volun- 
teers, through several of their officers, were pressing 
on the consideration of the General the expiration 
of their service, and claiming to be discharged on 
the 10th of the month. From the colonel who 
commanded the second regiment he received a letter, 
dated the 4th of December, 1813, in which was 
attempted to be detailed their whole ground of com- 
plaint. He began by stating, that painful as it was, 
he nevertheless felt himself bound to disclose an im- 
portant and unpleasant truth: that, on the 10th, the 
service would be deprived of the regiment he com- 
manded. He seemed to deplore, with great sensi- 
bility, the scene that would be exhibited on that day, 
should opposition be made to their departure ; and 
still more sensibly, the consequences that would 



ANDREW JACKSON. 71 

result from a disorderly abandonment of the camp. 
He stated they had all considered themselves finally 
discharged on the 20th of April, 1813, and never 
knevi^ to the contrary until they saw his order of the 
24th of September, 1813, requiring them to ren- 
dezvous at Fayetteville on the 4th of October, 1813 ; 
for the first time, they then learned that they owed 
further services, their discharge to the contrary 
notwithstanding. "Thus situated, there was con- 
siderable opposition to the order ; on which the 
officers generally, as I am advised, and I know 
myself in particular, gave it as an unequivocal 
opinion that their term of service would terminate 
on the 10th of December, 1813. 

" They therefore look to their general, who has 
their confidence, for an honourable discharge on 
that day ; and that, in every respect, he will see that 
justice be done them. They regret that their par- 
ticular situations and circumstances require them to 
leave their general at a time when their services are 
important to the common cause. It would be de- 
sirable," he continued, " that those men who have 
served with honour should be honourably discharged, 
and that they should return to their families and 
friends without even the semblance of disgrace; 
with their general they leave it to place them in that 



72 L I F E O F 

situation. They have received him as an affectionate 
father, while they have honoured, revered, and 
obeyed him ; but, having devoted a considerable 
portion of their time to the service of their country, 
by which their domestic concerns are greatly de- 
ranged, they wish to return, and attend to their own 
affairs." 

To this letter General Jackson returned a reply, 
which for firmness of resolution, and patriotic devo- 
tion to the cause of his country, and to the cause 
of right, never was surpassed by the address of a 
great commander to a blind and mutinous army. 
He declared his determination to prevent their return 
at the hazard of his own life, and called upon God 
to witness that the scenes of blood which might be 
exhibited upon that day should not be laid to his 
charge. His address concludes with the following 
remarkable words : 

" I cannot, must not, believe that the ' Volunteers 
of Tennessee,' a name ever dear to fame, will dis- 
grace themselves, and a country which they have 
honoured, by abandoning her standard, as mutineers 
and deserters; but should I be disappointed and 
compelled to resign this pleasing hope, one thing I 
will not resign — my duty. Mutiny and sedition, as 
long as I possess the power of quelling them, shall 



) ANDREW JACKSON. 73 

be put down ; and even when left destitute of this, I 
will still be found, in the last extremity, endeavouring 
to discharge the duty which I owe to my country 
and myself." 

To the platoon officers, who addressed him on 
the same subject, he replied with nearly the same 
spirited feeling; but discontent was too deeply 
fastened, and by designing men had been too artfully 
fomented, to be removed by anything like argument 
or entreaty. At length, on the evening of the 9th 
of December, 1813, General Hall hastened to the 
tent of Jackson, with information that his whole 
brigade was in a state of mutiny, and making prepa- 
rations to move forcibly off. This was a measure 
which every consideration of policy, duty and honour 
required Jackson to oppose ; and to this purpose he 
instantly applied all the means he possessed. He 
immediately issued the following general order : — 
" The commanding general being informed that an 
actual mutiny exists in his camp, all officers and 
soldiers are commanded to put it down. The 
officers and soldiers of the first brigade will, without 
delay, parade on the west side of the fort, and await 
further orders." The artillery company, with two 
small field-pieces, being posted in the front and 
rear, and the militia, under the command of Colonel 



74 L I F E O F 

Wynne, on the eminences, in advance, were ordered 
to prevent any forcible departure of the volunteers. 
The General rode along the line, which had been 
previously formed agreeably to his orders, and 
addressed them, by companies, in a strain of impas- 
sioned eloquence. He feelingly expatiated on their 
former good conduct, and the esteem and applause 
it had secured them ; and pointed to the disgrace 
which they must heap upon themselves, their fam- 
ilies, and country, by persisting, even if they could 
succeed, in their present mutiny. He told them, 
however, they should not succeed, but by passing 
over his body ; that even in opposing their mutinous 
spirit, he should perish honourably — by perishing at 
his post, and in the discharge of his duty. " Rein- 
forcements," he continued, " are preparing to hasten 
to my assistance ; it cannot be long before they will 
arrive. I am, too, in daily expectation of receiving 
information whether you may be discharged or not 
— until then, you must not and shall not retire. I 
have done with entreaty, — it has been used long 
enough. I will attempt it no more. You must now 
determine whether you will go or peaceably remain ; 
if you still persist in your determination to move 
forcibly off, the point between us shall soon be de- 
cided." At first they hesitated: he demanded an 



ANDREW JACKSON. 75 

explicit and positive answer. They still hesitated, 
and he commanded the artillerists to prepare the 
match ; he himself remaining in front of the volun- 
teers, and within the line of fire, which he intended 
soon to order. Alarmed at his apparent determina- 
tion, and dreading the consequences involved in such 
a contest, " Let us return," was presently lisped along 
the line, and soon after determined upon. The 
officers now came forward and pledged themselves 
for their men, who either nodded assent or openly 
expressed a willingness to retire to their quarters, 
and remain without further tumult, until information 
were had, or the expected aid should arrive. Thus 
passed away a moment of the greatest peril, and 
pregnant with important consequences. 

This matchless and ever memorable scene, the 
reader will observe, took place on the 10th of 
December, 1813 ; the volunteers having formed their 
first rendezvous, as he will recollect, on the 10th of 
December, 1812. One year had certainly expired; 
but there had not been a year's service; for they 
had not been in service from the 1st of May to the 
10th of October, 1813; so that there remained five 
months of the year's service to come. The General 
was right in his construction of the bargain ; but, 
besides this, to have forsaken the campaign in such 



76 L I F E O F 

a manner would have been ruinous in the extreme. 
The savage enemy, not yet subdued, but exasperated 
to the last degree, would have assailed the frontier 
settlements and deluged them in blood. 

Notwithstanding all General Jackson's firmness, 
however, the want of supplies and the actual need 
of his army, compelled him reluctantly to allow them 
to return home, remaining, himself, with about 100 
faithful soldiers, in the garrison of Fort Strother, 
there to await new reinforcements. 



ANDREW JACKSON 



77 



CHAPTER XIII. 

BATTLES OF EMUCKFAW AND ENOTOCHOPCO. 

BOUT the middle of January, 800 
new recruits reached Jackson's camp 
at Fort Strother. With these it 
would have been madness to have 
penetrated the Creek country, but as Jackson 
rightly conjectured that Major Floyd (who, 
it will be recollected, by the plan of the cam- 
paign, had entered the Indian country from 
Georgia,) might be closely pressed by the enemy, 
now that he had failed to co-operate with the Ten- 
nessee army, he determined to make with his 800 
men a diversion in his favour. 

Hearing, from authentic sources, that a large 
force of the " red-sticks," or hostile Indians, were 
collected on the Emuckfaw Creek, in a bend of the 
Tallapoosa River, he thither directed his march, and 
on the evening of the 21st of January he encamped 




78 L I F E O F 

within a short distance of the enemy. A friendly 
Indian spy, who had reconnoitred the eneniy's camp, 
brought in word that the Indians were removing 
their women and children ; a sure sign that they 
meditated an attack. It fell out as he had antici- 
pated. 

Early in the morning of the 22d, before day, a 
brisk firing was heard upon the right, and immedi- 
ately the engagement became general. The enemy 
were repulsed with the loss of many of their best 
warrriors ; but the evident strength which they had 
exhibited, and the fact that they were still continuing 
to receive fresh reinforcements, determined General 
Jackson to march back to Fort Strother. He had 
now accomplished his object, which was to create a 
diversion in favour of Floyd and the Georgian 
army; and, as it became known afterwards, the 
battle of Emuckfaw^ was probably the means of 
saving the Georgia troops, who were hotly engaged 
on the 27th, and with a little more strength on the 
part of their enemy would have been destroyed. 

Having spent the remainder of the 22d in bury- 
ing the dead, the army marched on the 23d from 
the ground of Emuckfaw. During the night of the 
23d there came on a hurricane, which is always 
favourable to the fighting of Indians, and as his 



ANDREW JACKSON. 79 

troops were not attacked, either in the night or 
during their march on the 23d, General Jackson 
rightly guessed that the enemy had made up their 
minds to lay in ambush for him at the ford of Eno- 
tochopco, about twelve miles from Emuckfaw. Here 
the stream runs through a deep and dangerous defile, 
the ford is deep, and the banks covered with under- 
wood and reeds, affording the best shelter for a 
lurking foe. Jackson, who had observed these 
things when he crossed before, at once resolved to 
lead his army over by a ford six hundred yards 
lower down. Expecting that the enemy, as soon as 
they discovered that he had chosen another route, 
would attack him in the rear, he formed his rear so 
as to receive them. It turned out as the General 
had anticipated. Part of the army had crossed the 
creek, the wounded were over, and the artillery were 
just entering, when an alarm gun was heard in the 
rear, and the next instant the whooping and yelling 
of the savages told that they were coming on in 
fearful numbers. The mihtia upon the right and 
the left, with their colonels at their head, being 
struck with a sudden panic, instantly retreated 
down the bank, leaving the brave General Carrol, 
with about twenty-five men, to check the advancing 
savages. Colonel Stump came plunging down the 



80 LIFE OF 

bank, meeting General Jackson, who had been on 
the water's edge superintending the crossing of the 
artillery. Jackson made an unsuccessful attempt 
to draw his sword and cut the retreating coward 
down. Lieutenant Armstrong ordered his com- 
pany of artillery to form upon the hill, at the same 
time, with the assistance of one or two others, 
dragging up the cannon, a six-pounder, and pointing 
it towards the advancing savages. The ramrod 
and picker had been lost, and also two gunners, 
Perkins and Craven. Jackson supplied the defici- 
ency, using their muskets and ramrods to load it. 
Twice was the little gun fired, and did fearful 
execution among the Indians. This succeeded in 
checking the advancing enemy, and in the meantime 
Jackson had recalled a number of the panic-struck 
fugitives, who returned to the fight. The savages, 
perceiving the balance of the army coming up, 
precipitately fled, throwing away their packs, and 
leaving twenty-six of their warriors dead upon the 
field. But for the bravery of Lieutenant Armstrong 
and General Carrol, the little army would have fallen 
a sacrifice to the cowardice of Colonels Stump and 
Perkins. The former was tried by a court-martial 
and cashiered. 

The army reached Fort Strother on the 27th, 



ANDREW JACKSON. 81 

when they were honourably dismissed by their Gen- 
eral, until further orders from the government. He 
now waited for a competent force to enter into the 
heart of the Creek country, and put an end to the 
war. 



82 L I F E O F 



CHAPTER XIV. 

BATTLE OP TOHOPEKA, OR HORSE-SHOE. 

N the month of March, thanks to the 

exertions of Governor Blount, General 

Jackson was again at the head of a fine 

army, and ready to recommence the 

campaign. This force consisted of 4000 

Tennessee militia and volunteers, and a 

regiment of United States regulars. 

In the month of February, he received 
information that the hostile Indians were fortifying 
themselves in a bend of the Tallapoosa River, called 
Tohopeka or Horse-shoe, where they had deter- 
mined to make a last stand. This was exactly 
what Jackson desired, knowing that if he could get 
the enemy into a general engagement, he would 
soon cause them to sue for peace. The country 
between the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, near their 
junction, known to the whites as the "Hickory 
Ground," had always been considered by the Indians 




ANDREW JACKSON. 83 

as sacred ground, and they believed, being so taught 
by their prophets, that no white man could ever 
enter this territory to conquer it. The place where 
they were now concentrated was in this Hickory 
Ground, about fifty miles from Emuckfaw, and in a 
bend of the Tallapoosa River. General Jackson 
with his army marched down the Coosa, and es- 
tablishing a fort at the mouth of Cedar Creek, 
crossed over to the Tallapoosa. The way had to 
be cut from one river to the pther, and the army 
was three days in crossing the Hickory Ground. 
He arrived near Tohopeka on the morning of the 
27th, having with him over 2000 men. 

The plan of this battle may be easily understood. 
The bend of the river in which the enemy was 
fortified, as its name imports, resembles in shape a 
horse-shoe. Across the neck of land by which it 
was entered from the north, the Indians had thrown 
up a rude breastwork of logs, seven or eight feet 
high, but so constructed that assailants would be 
exposed to a double and cross fire. About a hundred 
acres lay in this bend, and at the bottom of it was 
an Indian village. All around the village, on the 
same side of the river, were Indian canoes in great 
numbers, fastened to the bank. About 1000 war- 
riors were here assembled. 



84 L I F E O F 

After seeing how matters stood, Jackson de- 
spatched General Coffee to surround the bend 
opposite to where the canoes were tied, while he 
himself advanced to assault the breastwork. As 
soon as Coffee, by signals, had reported that the 
bend was completely surrounded by his troops, the 
two pieces of artillery, a six and three-pounder, 
began to play upon the breastwork. This continued 
for about two hours, when some of the Cherokees 
(friendly Indians,) who lay with Coffee on the river 
edge, round the bend, observing that none of the 
warriors had been left to guard the canoes, swam 
across the river and brought them over. In these 
a number of those under Coffee's command crossed 
over, and setting fire to the village, attacked the 
Indians in the rear. The troops under Jackson 
seeing the flames, and guessing the cause, at the 
same time made a push at the breastwork, and 
carried it by storm, though with the loss of some 
brave men. Now commenced the battle in earnest. 
The savages, nerved by despair, and having not the 
most remote idea of asking for quarter, fought des- 
perately. Some, trying to escape across the river 
by swimming, were shot by the spies and mounted 
men under Coffee. Some took refuge among the 
brush and fallen timber upon the cliffs of the river, 



ANDREW JACKSON. 85 

from which they fired upon the victors. Jackson, 
desirous to save their Hves, sent an interpreter 
within call to offer them terms, but they only fired 
on him, and wounded him in the shoulder. The 
cannon was then brought to bear on the place of 
their concealment, but without effect. A charge 
was also made, and several lives lost. And at last 
the brush and timber was fired, and such of them as 
were driven from their hiding places were shot as 
they ran. At length night put an end to the fight, 
and a few of the miserable survivors escaped in the 
darkness. Not over two hundred out of the whole 
escaped. Five hundred and fifty-seven were found 
dead upon the field, and three hundred women and 
children were captured. The loss upon the side of 
the Americans was fifty-five killed and 146 wounded. 
Of these, however, nearly a third were friendly 
Creeks and Cherokees. 

Among the Indians slain were three of their 
prophets, who had been most active in stirring up 
their country to war. Up to the last moment they 
maintained their influence over their deluded coun- 
trymen, and, amid the thunder of battle, painted and 
decorated with gaudy feathers, they continued their 
wild and unseemly dances and incantations. One 
of them, called Monohoe, while in the midst of his 



86 L I F E O F 

grotesque dancing and singing, was struck in the 
mouth by a grape-shot, which seems an appropriate 
rebuke for the impositions which he had practised 
on the unhappy victims that were falUng around 
him. 

After the battle of Tohopeka an incident occurred 
highly characteristic of the American general, and 
his savage foeman. An Indian about twenty years 
of age was brought before the General. He had 
received a severe wound in the leg, and a surgeon 
was sent for to dress it. The young savage sub- 
mitted quietly to the operation, but while it was 
going on he looked inquiringly at the General, and 
said, " Cure 'im, kill 'im again ?" He had no idea 
that there was any other doom awaiting him than 
that of death, and he could not comprehend why 
they should prepare him for death by curing his 
wound. The General assured him that he should 
not be killed, and the young Indian soon recovered. 
General Jackson, ascertaining that all his relations 
had perished in the battle, and being struck with 
the manly bearing of the young Indian, sent him to 
his own house in Tennessee. After the war he 
bound him out to a trade in Nashville, where he 
afterwards married a respectable woman of colour, 
and established himself in business. 




THE INDIAN PRISONERS 



ANDREW JACKSON. 87 

When General Jackson left the fort at the mouth 
of Cedar Creek on the Coosa River, which had been 
called Fort Williams, he took with him on the expe- 
dition to Tohopeka, only seven days' rations; he was 
therefore obliged after the battle to return again to 
the fort. Before leaving the scene of the battle of 
Tohopeka, he understood that the savages had dug 
up the bodies of his soldiers who had fallen at 
Emuckfaw and Enotochopco, for the purpose of 
obtaining their scalps, and exhibiting their ferocity 
in mutilating the lifeless bodies. The General 
caused his dead to be sunk in the river, and having 
provided every practicable comfort for his wounded, 
commenced his retrograde march on the 2d of April. 



88 L I F E O F 



CHAPTER XV. 

INDIAN CAMPAIGN, CONTINUED. 

E have before said that the tract of 
country lying in the bend of the 
Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, had 
long been considered by the Indians 
as consecrated ground, and that there no 
hostile white man's foot should ever make 
its track. They had been so beguiled by 
their prophets, who had taught them that 
they should there forever find security from the pale 
faces. It was, besides, the firm belief of the whites 
that the cotiquest of this tract of ground would soon 
put an end to the war. 

We have seen that all the operations of the 
diflferent divisions of the army were conducted with 
a view to a junction at the bend of these rivers. 
Major Floyd, with the Georgia troops, were to enter 
on the east side of the hostile country; Jackson, 




ANDREW JACKSON. 89 

with the Tennesseans on the north, while Claiborne 
and the Mississippians, with Wilhams and the 
United States regulars, were to make their invasion 
on the west and south. 

The expedition planned by General Pinckney, the 
commander-in-chief, would all have met at this 
point, no doubt, as intended, had it not been for the 
failure of provisions to the Tennessee troops at the 
commencement of the campaign. 

Jackson, however, after the battle of Tohopeka 
and his return to Fort Williams, resolved upon the 
complete conquest of the " Hickory Ground." He 
commenced preparations to attack Hoithlewalle, a 
town in this territory, where a considerable body of 
the Red-sticks were said to be concentrated. Having 
caused the Coosa River to be explored below Fort 
Wilhams, he saw that there was no chance of car- 
rying his provisions by water, the roughness of the 
country and the poor condition of his horses, which 
had been so long without corn, rendering it impos- 
sible to transport them in any quantity by land : he 
nevertheless determined to advance with such pro- 
visions as the men could carry upon their backs, 
relying upon a junction with the eastern army under 
Colonel Milton, when their small stock should be 
exhausted. With this view he had requested Milton 



90 L I F E O F 

to occupy the east side of the Tallapoosa River, 
opposite to the scene of his operations, and cut off 
any of the savages who might attempt to escape in 
that direction. 

Most of the friendly Indians were dismissed, as 
they constituted too great a drain on his resources, 
and now their assistance was not deemed any 
longer necessary. To prepare his men for further 
operations, Jackson issued an animated address, in 
the following terms : 

" Soldiers, 

" You have entitled yourselves to the grati- 
tude of your country, and your general. The ex- 
pedition from which you have returned, has by your 
good conduct been rendered prosperous beyond any 
example in the history of our warfare ; it has re- 
deemed the character of your state and of that 
description of troops of which the greater part of 
you are. 

"The fiends of the Tallapoosa will no longer 
murder our women and children, or disturb the quiet 
of our borders. Their midnio^ht flambeaux will no 
more illumine their council-house, or shine upon 
the victims of their infernal orgies. In their places, 
a new generation will arise, who will know their duty 
better. The weapons of warfare will be exchanged 



ANDREW JACKSON. 91 

for the utensils of husbandry ; and the wilderness, 
which now withers in steriHty and mourns the deso- 
lation which overspreads her, will blossom as the 
rose and become the nursery of the arts. But, before 
this happy day can arrive, other chastisements remain 
to be inflicted. It is indeed lamentable that the path 
to peace should lead through blood, and over the 
bodies of the slain; but it is a dispensation of Provi- 
dence, and perhaps a wise one, to inflict partial 
evils that ultimate good may follow." 

General Jackson commenced his march for Hoi- 
thlewalle upon the 7th of April, just five days after 
his return from Tohopeka. Each of his men carried 
upon his back eight days' provisions. It was his 
calculation that he would reach Hoithlewalle on the 
11th; but the difficulty of travelling, owing to the 
heavy rains that had fallen, and which rendered the 
country almost impassable, prevented this. 

'When he reached within ten or twelve miles of 
Hoithlewalle, he ascertained that the town had been 
deserted by its inhabitants. He then directed his 
march for Fooshatchie, a town about three miles 
lower down the river, where he took several pri- 
soners. 

When the Indians of Hoithlewalle and the neiorh- 
bouring towns became apprized of Jackson's ap- 



92 L I F E O F 

proach, they precipitately fled across the Tallapoosa 
River. This General Jackson had expected, and 
his orders to Colonel Milton were given with a view 
to prevent their escape in this direction. This 
foolish officer, however, took no steps to co-operate 
with him, and the consequence was, that while the 
towns of Cooloome, Fooshatchie, and Hoithlewalle 
were in flames, General Jackson received a letter 
from him, informing him that he should cross the 
Tallapoosa next day, and give the Indians battle. 
Instead of the Indians being on the other side of the 
Tallapoosa from that on which Milton was en- 
camped, they had already crossed, and passed him 
unmolested. A flood in the Tallapoosa and want 
of provisions, prevented immediate pursuit on the 
part of General Jackson, and thus the savage enemy 
were suflfered to escape. 

General Jackson had been repeatedly informed 
by General Pinckney, that 50,000 rations of flour, 
and 10,000 of meat, should be furnished him by this 
Colonel Milton ; and the eastern army had therefore 
placed full reliance on this, and expected to receive 
supplies from him as soon as he could form a 
junction. On application, however, to Colonel Mil- 
ton, that officer replied that he did not feel himself 
under any obligation to supply the Tennessee troops. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 93 

but would the next day lend them a small supply of 
provisions. Milton had crossed the Tallapoosa, and 
was advancing to attack Hoithlewalle, which was 
already in ashes. Jackson, being informed of his 
position and movements, sent him a peremptory 
order, by Captain Gordon of the spies, requiring 
him to furnish the provisions which he had previ- 
ously requested, and to form a junction with him 
the next day. On reading the order, Colonel Milton 
inquired of Captain Gordon, what sort of a man 
General Jackson was. 

" He is a man," replied the captain, " who intends 
when he gives an order that it shall be obeyed." 

Colonel Milton said he would furnish the provi- 
sions, not because they were ordered, but because 
the men were sufFerinoj for want of them : — but he 
nevertheless obeyed the order, and formed the 
junction as required. 

Jackson, in order to intercept the enemy who had 
fled, despatched a body of mounted men to scour 
the left bank of the Tallapoosa River, while he 
himself, with the main army, prepared to march 
down the Coosa as far as their junction. In the 
morning, just as the army was about to commence 
its march, word was brought to General Jackson, 
that Colonel Milton's briojade could not move, as 



94 L I F E O F 

the wagon-horses had strayed away in the night 
and could not be found. Jackson sent back word 
to Milton, that he had discovered in such cases, a 
very effectual remedy, and that if he would detail 
twenty men to each wagon the difficulty would be 
overcome. Milton took the hint, and having dis- 
mounted a few of his dragoons, and using their 
horses, the wagons were soon in motion. 

Not the least opposition did the army experience 
in their march from the Indians, and it had now 
become apparent that the battle of Tohopeka had 
ended the Creek war. 

No effort to rally, after that fatal day, had been 
made by the surviving warriors, and as General 
Jackson advanced, they either fled before him or 
came in and offered submission. The first to submit 
were the chiefs of the Hickory Ground, and as soon 
as it was known, all through the territory, that their 
lives would be spared, a general submission was the 
consequence, so that in a short time after this the 
Indian campaign was put to an end, and the Ten- 
nessee army returned home to their own state, and 
were honourably discharged. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 95 



CHAPTER XVI. 

SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE BRITISH. 

". ACKSON was now (spring of 1814,) 
appointed to be a major-general in 
the service of the United States. The 
protection of the coast near the mouths 
of the Mississippi was intrusted to him ; and 
his first attention was turned to the comfort, 
the encouragement, the protection which the 
savages received from the Spanish governor 
and Spanish authorities in the fortress of Pensacola, 
which is situated on the Gulf of Mexico, at about a 
hundred miles' distance from New Orleans, about 
thirty miles from the frontiers of the state of Ala- 
bama, and about a hundred miles from the main 
fastness of the Creek Indians. His opinion was, 
that the savages were always receiving assistance 
from the Spanish garrison, and from the British, 
through the means of that garrison ; and he was 
persuaded that, finally, the British would assail 




96 L I F E O F 

New Orleans by means of preparations made at 
Pensacola. On his way to the south, he learned 
that about three hundred British troops had landed, 
and were fortifying themselves at no great distance 
from Pensacola. In this state of things, he endeav- 
oured to prevail upon the Spanish governor to desist 
from all acts injurious to the United States. But 
that officer was by no means inclined to truth or 
sincerity. He falsified and prevaricated. By this 
time, and indeed before this time, the news had been 
received of the fall of Napoleon and his banishment 
to Elba. This event had greatly increased the 
means of Great Britain for hostile operations against 
the United States. This Spanish garrison was, in 
fact, a rendezvous for the British : it was a rendez- 
vous for the savage enemies of the United States. 
Captain Gordon, sent by Jackson to see what was 
passing, in the month of August (1814), reported to 
the General that he had seen from fifty to two 
hundred officers and soldiers, a park of artillery, 
about five hundred savages under the drill of British 
officers, and dressed in the English uniform. 

Apprised of these doings. General Jackson re- 
solved at once to march to Pensacola, and put an 
end to this duplicity on the part of the Spanish 
governor of that place. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 97 

Colonel Nicholls, at the head of a British expedi- 
tion, had issued a proclamation, dated from his 
" head-quarters at Pensacola," leaving no farther 
doubt of the treachery of the Spanish government. 

The first act of hostility on the part of the British, 
was an assault upon Fort Bowyer, a post of the 
United States on the Mobile. On the 15th of Sep- 
tember, 1814, Nicholls attacked the fort by land, 
while several vessels, mounting altoofether about 
ninety guns, approached by sea. The expedition 
ended by the blowing up of one of the English ships, 
greatly damaging another, and sending off Colonel 
Nicholls, the proclamation-maker, with the loss of 
one of his ships, and, as it was said, one of his eyes. 

The commander of Fort Bowyer was a Major 
Lawrence. His brave band consisted of about one 
hundred and fifty men, while the force of the British 
was, as we have seen, ninety guns by sea, while 
Nicholls assaulted the fort by land, with a twelve 
pound howitzer, and several hundreds of marines, 
sailors, and savages. This affair was in the highest 
degree honourable to Major Lawrence and his men. 
The disparity of force was immense ; and the defeat 
of the British, in this their first demonstration, must 
have had a material influence on subsequent opera- 
tions. 



98 L I F E O F 

Jackson was a man, however, who did not stop 
with half-way measures, and he was in this case 
determined to carry out his plans, and break up the 
rendezvous at Pensacola. Accordingly, on the 6th 
of November, 1814, he marched against it, demol- 
ished all its defences and protections, drove out the 
British and the savages, and demonstrated that there 
was enough American energy to put down any triple 
combination of EngHsh, Spaniards and savages. 

Having given the haughty and insolent foe a fore- 
taste of that which was to come, he repaired to the 
point which was to' be the grand scene of action. 
He arrived at the city of New Orleans on the 1st of 
December, 1814. News had been received of the 
approach of a British fleet. The first intelligence 
of this sort was received on the 4th of December. 
Cochrane, who commanded the British fleet, and 
who had the celebrated Sir George Cockburn 
under him, had collected all their forces together, 
after they had been beaten off" from before Balti- 
more, and had sailed for New Orleans, whither 
Nicholls had been sent before to prepare the way 
for the proclamation, which had just been issued 
from his head-quarters at Pensacola. They were 
to be joined, as they afterwards were, by a strong 
body of the " heroes of the Peninsula." Their force 



ANDREW JACKSON. 99 

altogether was prodigious : ships of the line, frigates, 
sloops of war, fire-ships, great numbers of furnaces 
to heat red-hot shot, Congreve rockets, all manner 
.of materials for sapping, and mining, and blowing 
up : an expedition costing, in all probability, more 
than a million of pounds sterling in the fitting out. 
There were eleven thousand regular " heroes of the 
Peninsula ;" there were four generals, two admirals, 
twelve thousand, at the least, of seamen and ma- 
rines, artillery in abundance, of all sorts ; perhaps 
a hundred gun-boats and barges ; and every expense 
ready to be incurred for the employment of persons 
of all sorts; besides numerous bands of savages 
ready to come in, if the attack had succeeded. 

Such was the mighty armament prepared for the 
conquest of New Orleans. But the city had a de- 
fender whose energy, skill, and promptness, emi- 
nently fitted him for the perilous task of opposing 
these great forces. 



100 LIFE OF 



CHAPTER XVII. 

JACKSON AT NEW ORLEANS. 

E have seen that Jackson, having 
received intelhgence which made 
him beheve, and quite certain in- 
deed, that the intention of the Brit- 
ish was to get possession of the mouths of 
the Mississippi, of the whole state of Louis- 
iana, and particularly of that rich prize, the 
city of New Orleans, crammed with sugar, 
coffee, flour, cotton, and all sorts of merchandise, 
repaired thither, that is to say, to the city itself, on 
the 1st of December, 1814. On the 6th of Decem- 
ber, he received certain intelligence that a large 
British force was off the port of Pensacola, destined 
against New Orleans; that it amounted to about 
eighty vessels, and that more than double that 
number were momentarily looked for to form a 
junction with those already arrived ; that there were 
in this fleet vessels of all descriptions, contrived for 




ANDREW JACKSON. 101 

the most deadly purposes, with a large body of land 
troops ; that Admiral Cochrane had the command, 
and that his ship, the Tonnant, was then lying off' 
Pensacola. 

It must here be observed, that the city of New 
Orleans, at this time containing a population of 
about 30,000 inhabitants, had been purchased from 
the French only three years before, (in 1811,) and 
that most of its citizens were of Spanish and French 
descent. From this it will easily be understood that 
their attachment to their new government was any- 
thing but warm, and in fact the greater number of 
these people, having been educated and brought up 
in the monarchical countries of Europe, would have 
preferred that the British should have taken the 
city, provided they had been left unmolested. When 
this is taken into account, it will easily be imagined 
that General Jackson, in preparing to defend it, had 
other difficulties to contend against, than mere want 
of troops, ammunition, and arms. He had some- 
thing else than mere fighting to do : he had to con- 
tend against treason in every quarter and corner, 
and treason on the part of those whose very hearths 
and homes and lives he had come to defend from a 
ruthless and mercenary soldiery. He was obliged, 
as will easily be supposed, to place the city under 



102 LIFE OF 

martial law, and in one instance, where he had 
ordered a traitor to be imprisoned, and where that 
traitor had been set at liberty by Judge Hall, the 
General thought it necessary to imprison the judge 
also. These, to be sure, seem harsh measures, but 
the necessity of the case required harsh measures, 
and had such measures not have been taken. New 
Orleans would, most undoubtedly, have fallen into 
the hands of the British, and our country would have 
suffered incalculable disgrace and disaster. In the 
midst of every kind of difficulty, with his faithful 
little army, did General Jackson await the British 
invader. He had, to be sure, a faithful army, with 
faithful officers ; but they were badly armed and 
equipped, while the citizens around him had almost 
yielded to despair, thinking that, with such means, 
there was not the slightest hope of opposing the 
splendid armament that was coming against them, 
and which consisted of the flower of the British 
army who had just conquered Napoleon Bonaparte. 
It was with these difficulties and dangers staring 
him in the face, that General Jackson proceeded to 
make preparations to surmount them all, and the 
manner in which he succeeded will be related in the 
following chapters. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 103 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



BATTLE OF THE TWENTY-THIRD OF DECEMBER. 



N order that the reader may the more 

a fully understand the mihtary operations 

carried on in the defence of New Or- 




leans, it may not be improper to make 
a few remarks upon the peculiar situation of 
that city. 

New Orleans is about one hundred and 
five miles from the mouths of the Mississippi 
River, and situated around a bend, on the left, or 
eastern bank. It is generally approached by vessels 
by the river, although small craft, such as schooners 
and sloops, navigate lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne, 
(an arm of the sea, lying behind the city, and sepa- 
rated from it, as well as from the river, by a 
narrow tract of country, which is, for the most part, 
an impassable and forest-covered swamp.) A nar- 
row strip of land, varying from a few hundred yards 
to two or three miles, borders the river, gradually 



104 LIFE OF 

tapering off' into a swamp as it recedes, until it 
reaches the lakes. This strip of land is covered 
with plantations of sugar and cotton, &c., and pro- 
tected from inundations of the river by an embank- 
ment of earth, called the " Levee," which runs up 
far above the city. The same is found on both sides 
of the river. 

Now the English armament, instead of coming up 
the river, entered the lakes and commenced landing 
their forces, on the 23d of December, upon this strip 
of dry land, about eight miles below the city. They 
reached the dry land by means of a stream or 
" Bayou," (a sort of natural canal,) called the Bayou 
Bienvenu, through which they passed in their boats. 
They were as yet ignorant that Jackson had been 
making such preparations to receive them, and in- 
stead of marching directly upon the city, which 
would have been the safest course, their commander 
resolved to encamp where he had landed, on the 
plantations of two or three French settlers. 

When General Jackson received intelligence that 
the British were landing through Bienvenu and 
Villere's canal, he determined to attack them in- 
stantly, and therefore ordered the brigades of gen- 
erals Coffee and Carroll, who were encamped about 
four miles above New Orleans, into the city. So 



ANDREW JACKSON. 105 

prompt were these, that in two hours they were in 
the streets and ready. As yet General Jackson 
could not tell what force of the British had arrived 
at Lacoste's and Laronde's plantations, (these were 
the plantations lying between the river and the 
Bayou Bienvenu,) nor whether this was not in- 
tended as a feint to draw off his attention from 
some other point of approach, for, as we have seen, 
there were several other directions by which the 
city might be reached. Labouring under this doubt, 
he detached General Carroll with his division, along 
with Governor Claiborne and the Louisiana militia, 
to take post on the Gentilly road, which led from 
Chef Menteur (another landing-place,) to New Or- 
leans. Their orders were to defend this approach 
should the British make their appearance on it, to 
the last extremity. 

With the remainder of his troops, in all about 
2000 men, Jackson hastened down the river towards 
the point where it had been reported the British 
were effecting a landing. 

Alarm pervaded the city. The marching and 
countermarching of the troops, the proximity of the 
enemy, with the approaching contest, and uncer- 
tainty of the issue, had excited a general fear. 
Already might the British be on their way and at 



1 06 LIFE OF 

hand before the necessary arrangements could be 
made to oppose them. To prevent this, Colonel 
Hayne, with two companies of riflemen and the 
Mississippi dragoons, was sent forward to recon- 
noitre their camp, learn their position and their 
numbers, and if they should be found advancing, to 
harass and oppose them at every step until the 
main body should arrive. 

Everything being ready. General Jackson com- 
menced his march, to meet and fight the veteran 
troops of England. iVn inconsiderable circumstance 
at this moment evinced what unUmited confidence 
was reposed in his skill and bravery. As his troops 
were marching through the city, his ears were 
assailed with the screams and cries of innumerable 
females, who had collected on the way, and seemed 
to apprehend the worst of consequences. Feeling 
for their distresses, and anxious to quiet them, he 
directed Mr. Livingston, one of his aids-de-camp, to 
address them in the French language. "Say to 
them," said he, " not to be alarmed : the enemy shall 
never reach the city." It operated like an electric 
shock upon these terrified creatures. To know that 
he, himself, was not afraid of a fatal result, inspired 
them at once with confidence, and changed their 
fears into hopes. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 107 

The General arrived within sight of the enemy's 
position a Httle before dark, and having previously 
gotten from a colonel, who had been sent in ad- 
vance, some tolerable idea of their strength, (he 
thought it was about 2000 : it proved, however, to 
be 3000, as was afterwards found, and was con- 
stantly increasing by reinforcements from the ves- 
sels,) he determined upon an immediate attack. It 
was planned in the following manner : Coffee, with 
one division of the army, was to march to the left, 
keeping near the swamp, and thus, if possible, turn 
the enemy's right, and drive them toward the river, 
where a schooner-of-war, (the Caroline,) commanded 
by Commodore Patterson, would drop down and 
open upon them. The main division of Jackson's 
army, led by himself, would advance down the main 
road, near the river, and attack the fresh landed 
troops in front. 

These plans being arranged, they were imme- 
diately entered upon. 

General Coffee with silence and caution had ad- 
vanced beyond their pickets, next the swamp, and 
nearly reached the point to which he was ordered, 
when a broadside from the Caroline announced the 
battle begun. Patterson had proceeded slowly, 
giving time, as he believed, for the execution of 



108 L 1 F E O F 

those arrangements contemplated on the shore. So 
sanguine had the British been in the behef that they 
would be kindly received, and Httle opposition 
attempted, that the CaroHne floated by the sentinels, 
and anchored before their camp without any kind 
of molestation. On passing the front picket she 
was hailed in a low tone of voice, but not returning 
an answer, no further question was made. This, 
added to some other attendant circumstances, con- 
firmed the opinion that they believed her a vessel 
laden with provisions, which had been sent out from 
New Orleans, and was intended for them. Having 
reached what, from their fires, appeared to be the 
centre of their encampment, her anchors were cast, 
and her character and business disclosed from her 
guns. So unexpected an attack produced a mo- 
mentary confusion; but recovering, she was an- 
swered by a discharge of musketry and flight of 
Congreve rockets, which passed without injury, 
while the grape and canister from her guns were 
pouring destructively on them. To take away the 
certainty of aim afforded by the light from their 
fires, these were immediately extinguished, and they 
retired two or three hundred yards into the open 
field, if not out of the reach of cannon, at least to a 



ANDREW JACKSON. 109 

distance, where by the darkness of the night they 
would be protected. 

Coffee had dismounted his men, and turned his 
horses loose, at a large ditch, next the swamp, in 
the rear of Laronde's plantation, and gained, as he 
thought, the centre of the enemy's line, when the 
signal from the Caroline reached him. He directly 
wheeled his column in, and forming, marched toward 
the river and the enemy. He had not proceeded 
more than an hundred yards, when he received a 
heavy fire from the enemy's line formed in front. 
This he did not expect, as he supposed they were 
much nearer the bank of the river, and so they had 
been, until the fire of the Caroline drove them nearer 
the swamp, and consequently nearer to Coffee. The 
moon was shining, but so feebly that it was difficult 
to distinguish objects at any distance. As Coffee's 
forces were mostly riflemen, orders were given them 
not to fire at random, but to make certain shots. 
Going on for some time with caution, they at last 
came in sight of the enemy, when a general dis- 
charge of the American rifles caused them to retreat ; 
they, however, rallied again, and formed, when they 
were again attacked and again forced to retreat. 

The brave yeomanry, led on by their gallant 
commander, pressed fearlessly forward, driving their 



110 LIFE OF 

assailants from every position which they took up. 
Their general was under no necessity to encourage 
them by words ; his own example was sufficient to 
excite them. Always in the midst, he displayed a 
coolness and disregard of danger, calling to his 
troops that they had often said they could fight — 
now was the time to prove it. 

The British, driven back by the resolute firmness 
and ardour of the assailants, had now reached a 
grove of orange-trees, with a ditch running past it, 
protected by a fence on the margin. Here they 
were halted and formed for battle. It was a favour- 
able position, promising security, and was occupied 
with a confidence that they could not be forced to 
yield it. Coffee's dauntless yeomanry, strengthened in 
their hopes of success, moved on, nor discovered the 
advantages against them, until a fire from the entire 
British line showed their position and defence. A 
sudden check was given ; but it was only momentary, 
for gathering fresh ardour, they charged across the 
ditch, gave a deadly and destructive fire, and forced 
the enemy once more to give way. The retreat 
continued, until gaining a similar position, the British 
made another stand, and were again driven from it 
with considerable loss. 
- Thus the battle raged on the left wing, until the 



ANDREW JACKSON. Ill 

British reached the bank of the river ; here a deter- 
mined stand was made, and further encroachments 
resisted : for half an hour the conflict was extremely 
violent on both sides. The American troops could 
not be driven from their purpose, nor the British 
made to yield their ground ; but at length, having 
suffered greatly, the latter were under the necessity 
of taking refuge behind the levee, which aflforded a 
breastwork, and protected them from the fatal fire 
of our riflemen. Coffee, unacquainted with their 
position, for the darkness had greatly increased, 
already contemplated again to charge them ; but 
one of his officers, who had discovered the advan- 
tage their situation gave them, assured him it was 
too hazardous ; that they could be driven no farther, 
and would, from the point they occupied, resist with 
the bayonet, and repel, with considerable loss, any 
attempt that might be made to dislodge them. The 
place of their retirement was covered in front by a 
strong bank, which had been extended into the field, 
to keep out the river, in consequence of the first 
being encroached upon, and undermined in several 
places : the former, however, was still entire in 
many parts, which, interposing between them and 
the Mississippi, afforded security from the broad- 
sides of the schooner, which lay off* at some distance. 



112 LIFE OF 

A further apprehension, lest, by moving still nearer 
to the river, he might greatly expose himself to the 
fire of the Caroline, which was yet spiritedly main- 
taining the conflict, induced Coffee to retire until he 
could hear from the commanding general, and re- 
ceive his further orders. 

While General Coffee was thus employed upon 
the left, and next the swamp, the main division 
under Jackson had been led down the Levee road. 
Instead of moving in column, which had been or- 
dered by Jackson, and which order had been omitted 
to be executed, the troops had been formed in line, 
and thus commenced their march, but although the 
ground was wide enough for this, at first, it gradually 
grew narrower, and the centre became compressed, 
and was forced into the rear. The river gradually 
inclining to the left, diminished the space, and La- 
ronde's house, surrounded by a grove of clustered 
orange trees, compressed the left wing, so that two 
battalions (Planche's and Daquin's,) were thrown 
into confusion. This could have been easily re- 
medied, but for the briskness of the advance, and 
the darkness of the night. A heavy fire from behind 
a fence, immediately before them, had brought the 
enemy to view. Acting in obedience to their orders, 
not to waste their ammunition at random, our troops 



ANDREW JACKSON. 113 

had pressed forward against the opposition in their 
front, and thereby threw those battalions in the rear. 
A fog rising from the river, and which, added to 
the smoke from the guns, was covering the plain, 
gradually diminished the little light shed by the 
moon, and greatly increased the darkness of the 
night : no clue was left to ascertain how or where 
the enemy were situated. There was no alternative 
but to move on in the direction of their fire, which 
subjected the assailants to material disadvantages. 
The British, driven from their first position, had 
retired back, and occupied another, behind a deep 
ditch, that ran out of the Mississippi towards the 
swamp, on the margin of which was a wood-railed 
fence. Here, strengthened by increased numbers, 
they again opposed the advance of our troops. 
Having waited until they had approached sufficiently 
near to be discovered, from their fastnesses they 
discharged a fire upon the advancing army. In- 
stantly our battery was formed, and poured destruc- 
tively upon them ; while the infantry, pressing for- 
ward, aided in the conflict, which at this point was 
for some time spiritedly maintained. At this moment 
a brisk sally was made upon our advance, when the 
marines, unequal to the assault, were already giving 
way. The adjutant-general, and Colonels Piatt and 

H 



114 LI F E O F 

Chotard, with a part of the seventh, hastening to 
their support, drove the enemy, and saved the artil- 
lery from capture. General Jackson, perceiving the 
decided advantages which were derived from the 
position they occupied, ordered their line to be 
charged. It was obeyed with cheerfulness, and 
executed with promptness. Pressing on, our troops 
gained the ditch, and pouring across it a well-aimed 
fire, compelled them to retreat, and to abandon their 
intrenchment. The plain on which they were con- 
tending was cut to pieces by races from the river, 
to convey the water to the swarap. The enemy 
were therefore very soon enabled to occupy another 
position, equally favourable Avith the one whence 
they had been just driven, where they formed for 
battle, and for some time gallantly maintained them- 
selves; but which at length, and after stubborn 
resistance, they were forced to yield. 

The enemy, discovering the firm and obstinate 
advance made by the right wing of the American 
army, and presuming, perhaps, that its principal 
strength was posted on the road, formed the inten- 
tion of attacking violently the left. Obliquing for 
this purpose, an attempt was made to turn it. At 
this moment, Daquin's and the battahon of city 



ANDREW JACKSON. 115 

guards, being marched up and formed on the left of 
the forty-fourth regiment, met and repulsed them. 

The darkness of the night prevented the advan- 
tages which might have been obtained by our artil- 
lery; nevertheless, guided by the blaze of the enemy's 
musquetry, it had been used with such effect as 
greatly to annoy them. 

The enemy had been thrice assailed and beaten, 
and had been forced for nearly a mile down the 
river. They had now retired so that they were 
only to be found amidst the darkness of night. The 
General, therefore, before proceeding farther, re- 
solved to halt until he could ascertain what had 
been the result of Coffee's attack on the enemy's 
right. He knew from the brisk firing he had heard 
in that direction, that he had been warmly engaged, 
but as that had nearly ceased, as well as the firing 
from the Carohne, he thought proper to halt, and 
ascertain what had been his success. Having 
learned, therefore, that from the darkness some con- 
fusion had been produced in Coffee's ranks, similar 
to that which had arisen in his own, he determined 
to prosecute the battle no farther, but wait until the 
morning light should enable him to discover the 
position of his enemy. 

It had been Jackson's behef that he might be 



116 LIFE OF 

enabled to capture the whole British army, by fol- 
lowing up his success, and from the fact that they 
having just landed, and being entirely ignorant of 
the nature of the country or of the strength of their 
opponents, there was sufficient reason upon which 
to ground this belief: but when Jackson heard from 
Coffee of the strong position into which the enemy 
had been driven, and also that a division of his 
(Coffee's,) troops had been detached, and were 
probably captured, he ordered the army back to the 
original position. 

The party that had been detached from General 
Coffee's command, were colonels Dyer and Gibson, 
with about two hundred men, and Captain Beal's 
company of riflemen. 

Dyer, who commanded the extreme left, on clear- 
ing a grove after the enemy had retired, was 
marching in a direction where he expected to find 
General Coffee ; he very soon discovered a force in 
front, and halting his men, hastened towards it ; 
arriving within a short distance, he was hailed, 
ordered to stop, and report to whom he belonged : 
Dyer, and Gibson, his lieutenant-colonel, who had 
accompanied him, advanced and stated they were of 
Coffee's brigade ; by this time they had arrived 
within a short distance of the hne, and perceiving 



ANDREW JACKSON. 117 

that the name of the brigade they had stated was 
not understood, their apprehensions were awakened 
lest it might be a detachment of the enemy; in this 
opinion they were confirmed, and wheeling to return, 
were fired on and pursued. Gibson had scarcely 
started when he fell ; before he could recover, a 
soldier quicker than the rest had reached him, and 
pinned him to the ground with his bayonet ; for- 
tunately the stab had but shghtly wounded him, 
and he was only held by his clothes ; thus pinioned, 
and perceiving others to be briskly advancing, but a 
moment was left for deliberation ; making a violent 
exertion, and springing to his feet, he threw his 
assailant to the ground, and made good his escape. 
Colonel Dyer had retreated about fifty yards, when 
his horse dropped dead ; entangled in the fall, and 
slightly wounded in the thigh, there was little 
prospect of relief, for the enemy were briskly ad- 
vancing ; his men being near at hand, he ordered 
them to advance and fire, which checked their ap- 
proach, and enabled him to escape. Being now at 
the head of his command, — perceiving an enemy in 
a direction he had not expected, and uncertain how 
or where he might find General Coflfee, he deter- 
mined to seek him to the right, and moving on with 
his little band, forced his way through the enemy's 



118 LIFE OF 

lines, with the loss of sixty-three of his men, who 
were killed and taken. Captain Beal, with equal 
bravery, charged through the enemy, carrying off 
some prisoners, and losing several of his own com- 
pany. 

The battle of the 23d was well planned, and but 
for the confusion introduced into the ranks, and the 
Caroline having given her signals too early, before 
Coffee had made his arrangements on the side to- 
ward the swamp, it would have been attended with 
complete success. The battle, however, of the night 
of the 23d, was of the utmost importance in its re- 
sults, as it had the effect of checking the enemy in 
their advance toward the city, which would have 
doubtless been attempted next day. By this, as we 
shall presently see, Jackson obtained time to com- 
plete that impregnable and ever-memorable fortifi- 
cation, by the assistance of which, he was enabled 
to repel an army of twice his own numbers, and de- 
fend a wealthy city from pillage and ruin. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 119 



CHAPTER XIX. 



FURTHER OPERATIONS. 




'^ACKSON having now ascertained that 
the enemy were making their principal 
landing through the Bayou Bienvenu, 
immediately despatched orders for 
General Carroll to join him with the troops, 
which, it will be recollected, had been left to 
defend the approach by Chef Menteur. 
Ascertaining, moreover, that about 6000 
of the enemy were already on the ground, he saw 
that his best course would be to occupy some forti- 
fied position, and act upon the defensive until he 
could discover the future views of the enemy, and 
until he should receive expected reinforcements from 
Kentucky. 

Pursuing this idea, at four o'clock in the morning, 
having ordered Colonel Hinds to occupy the ground 
he was then abandoning, and to observe the enemy 
closely, he fell back, and formed his line behind a 



120 



LIFE OF 



deep ditch, that stretched to the swamp at right 
angles from the river. There were two circum- 
stances strongly recommending the importance of 
this place : — the swamp, which from the highlands 
at Baton Rouge skirts the river at irregular dis- 
tances, and in many places is almost impervious, 
had here approached within four hundred yards of 
the Mississippi, and hence, from the narrowness of 
the pass, was more easily to be defended ; added to 
which, there was a deep canal, whence the dirt being 
thrown on the upper side, already formed a tolerable 
work of defence. Behind thi^s his troops were 
formed, and proper measures adopted for increasing 
its strength, with a determination never to abandon 
it ; but there to resist to the last, and valiantly to 
defend those rights which were sought to be out- 
raged and destroyed. 

Promptitude and decision, and activity in execu- 
tion, constituted the leading traits of Jackson's 
character. No sooner had he resolved on the course 
which he thought necessary to be pursued, than with 
every possible despatch he hastened to its comple- 
tion. Before him was an army proud of its name, 
and distinguished for its deeds of valour ; opposed 
to which was his own unbending spirit, and an in- 
ferior, undisciplined, and unarmed force. He con- 



ANDREW JACKSON. 121 

ceived, therefore, that his was a defensive poUcy, 
that by prudence and caution he would be able to 
preserve what offensive operation might have a 
tendency to endanger. Hence, with activity and 
industry, based on a hope of ultimate success, he 
commenced his plan of defence, determining to for- 
tify himself as effectually as the peril and pressure 
of the moment would permit. When to expect 
attack he could not tell ; preparation and readiness 
to meet it was for him to determine on, all else was 
for the enemy. Promptly, therefore, he proceeded 
with his system of defence ; and with such thought- 
fulness and anxiety, that until the night of the 27th, 
when his Hne was completed, he never slept, or for 
a moment closed his eyes. Resting his hope of 
safety here, he was everywhere, through the night, 
present, encouraging his troops and hastening a 
completion of the work. For five days and four 
nights he was without sleep, and constantly em- 
ployed. His line of defence (the celebrated cotton 
embankment,) being completed, on the night of the 
27th he, for the first time since the arrival of the 
enemy, retired to rest and repose. 

From the violence of the assault already made, 
the fears of the British had been greatly excited ; to 
keep their apprehensions alive was considered im- 



122 LIFE OF 

portant, with a view partially to destroy the over- 
weening confidence with which they had arrived on 
our shores, and to compel them to act for a time 
upon the defensive. To effect this, General Coffee, 
with his brigade, was ordered down on the morning 
of the 24th, to unite with Colonel Hinds, and make 
a show in the rear of Lacoste's plantation. The 
enemy, not yet recovered from the panic produced 
by the assault of the preceding evening, already 
believed it was in contemplation to urge another 
attack, and immediately formed themselves to repel 
it ; but Coffee, having succeeded in recovering some 
of his horses, which were wandering along the mar- 
gin of the swamp, and in regaining part of the 
clothing which his troops had lost the night before, 
returned to the line, leaving them to conjecture the 
objects of his movement. 

Besides the line of defence which Jackson was 
forming on the left bank of the river, he also had 
prepared defences at other points where he thought 
the enemy might approach. 

Major Reynolds had been despatched to fortify 
the bayous leading from Barrataria, in company 
with Lafitte, who, from his lively zeal in favour of 
his adopted country, had been pardoned by the 
United States, and received into their service. Chef 



ANDREW JACKSON. 123 

Menteur was also defended by Major Lacoste, and 
the fortifications on the right bank of the Mississippi 
were under the direction of Morgan. He feared 
that the shipping of the enemy might come up the 
river, and therefore forts St. Philip and Bourbon 
were put in the best order to prevent this. 

On the 27th the enemy opened a battery (which 
they had erected for the purpose,) upon the schooner 
Caroline. She, it will be recollected, on the night 
of the 23d had dropped down opposite the enemy's 
lines, and it had been impossible since to warp her 
up again, and although she could easily have been 
carried down the river until under the protection of 
one of the forts, yet it had been thought better to 
keep her where she lay, (on the opposite side of the 
river,) and wait the chances of a favourable wind to 
carry her up. 

The enemy, however, succeeded in lodging a red- 
hot shot in her hold, which set her on fire, and she 
being abandoned, shortly after blew up. 

Gathering confidence from the destruction of the 
Caroline, on the morning of the 28th the enemy 
(now increased in numbers and commanded in 
person by Major-General Sir Edward Packenham,) 
advanced to storm our works. They were, however, 
defeated in the engagement, with the loss of over 



124 LIFE OF 

one hundred killed, while the loss upon our side was 
only eight or ten. 

A supposed disaffection in New Orleans, and an 
enemy in front, w^ere circumstances well calculated 
to excite unpleasant forebodings. General Jackson 
beheved it necessary and essential to his security, 
while contending with avowed foes, not to be wholly 
inattentive to danger lurking at home; but by guard- 
ing vigilantly, to be able to suppress any treasonable 
purpose the moment it should be developed, and it 
should have time to mature. Treason to their 
country, however, first made its appearance in the 
very place where it should have been last in showing 
itself — in the halls of the legislature. 

Jackson, hearing that this body were contem- 
plating to surrender the city in case of an emer- 
gency, ordered Governor Claiborne to shut them up 
in the hall, so that their deliberations should not 
affect the people ; but Claiborne, mistaking the order, 
instead of shutting them up turned them out, and 
thus practically dissolved that body. 

Before this he had been called on by a special 
committee of the legislature to know what his 
course would be should necessity force him from 
his position. " If," replied the General, " I thought 
the hair of my head could divine what I should do 



ANDREW JACKSON. 125 

forthwith, I would cut it off; go back with this 
answer ; say to your honourable body, that if dis- 
aster does overtake me, and the fate of war drives 
me from my Hne to the city, they may expect to have 
a very warm session." — "And what did you design 
to do," I inquired, " provided you had been forced 
to retreat ?" — "I should," he replied,'^' have retreated 
to the city, fired it, and fought the enemy amid the 
surrounding flames. There were with me men of 
wealth, owners of considerable property, who, in 
such an event, would have been among the foremost 
to have applied the torch to their ov/n buildings; 
and what they had left undone I should have com- 
pleted. Nothing for the comfortable maintenance 
of the enemy would have been left in the rear. I 
would have destroyed New Orleans — occupied a 
position above on the river — cut off all supphes, and 
in this way compelled them to depart from the 
country." 

The British admiral on the lakes, solicitous to 
ascertain the number and position of Jackson's 
army, resorted to various means to obtain this in- 
formation from two gentlemen, Mr. Shields and 
Doctor Murrell, who (although bearing a flag of 
truce,) had been taken prisoners on the 14th. 

Shields was perceived to be quite deaf, and calcu- 



126 LIFE OF 

lating on some advantage to be derived from this 
circumstance, he and the Doctor were placed at 
night in the green-room, where any conversation 
which occurred between them could readily be 
heard. Suspecting, perhaps, something of the kind, 
after having retired, and everything was seemingly 
still, they beg^ to speak of their situation — the 
circumstance of their being detained, and of the 
prudent caution with which they had guarded them- 
selves against communicating any information to 
the British admiral. But, continued Shields, how 
greatly these gentlemen will be disappointed in their 
expectations, for Jackson, with the twenty thousand 
troops he now has, and the reinforcements from 
Kentucky, which must speedily reach him, will be 
able to destroy any force that can be landed from 
these ships. Every word was heard and treasured, 
and not supposing there was any design, or that he 
presumed himself overheard, they were beguiled by 
it, and at once concluded our force to be as great 
as it was represented ; and hence, no doubt, arose 
the reason of that prudent care and caution with 
which the enemy afterward proceeded; for "no- 
thing," remarked a British officer, at the close of 
the invasion, "was kept a secret from us except 



ANDREW JACKSON. 127 

your numbers ; this, although diligently sought after, 
could never be procured." 

Every precaution was adopted to prevent any com- 
munication by which the slightest intelligence should 
be had of our situation, already indeed sufficiently 
deplorable. Additional guards were posted along 
the swamp, on both sides of the Mississippi, to arrest 
all intercourse ; while on the river, the common 
highway, watch-boats were constantly plying during 
the night, in different directions, so that a log could 
scarcely float down the stream unperceived. Two 
flat-bottomed boats, on a dark night, were turned 
adrift above, to ascertain if vigilance were preserved, 
and whether there would be any possibility of es- 
caping the guards and passing in safety to the 
British lines. The light boats discovered them on 
their passage, and on the alarm being given, they 
were opened upon by the Louisiana sloop, and the 
batteries on the shore, and in a few minutes were 
sunk. In spite, however, of every precaution, 
treason still discovered avenues through which to 
project and execute her nefarious plans, and through 
them was constantly afforded information to the 
enemy ; carried to them, no doubt, by adventurous 
friends, who sought and effected their nightly pas- 



128 LIFE OF 

sage through the deepest parts of the swamp, where 
it was impossible for sentinels to be stationed. 

Frequent light skirmishes by advanced parties, 
without material effect on either side, were the only 
incidents that took place for several days. 

Upon the morning of the 1st of January, however, 
the enemy, who for three days had been engaged in 
erecting batteries, made another attack upon our 
fortifications. They were obliged, however, to re- 
tire, and their batteries having failed to make a 
breach, were silenced and rendered useless by the 
American cannon. The enemy in this affair lost 
about seventy men, while our loss was only eleven 
killed. 

The enemy's heavy shot having penetrated our 
intrenchment in many places, it was discovered not 
to be as strong as had at first been imagined. Fa- 
tigue parties were again employed, and its strength 
daily increased : an additional number of bales of 
cotton were taken to be applied to strengthening 
and defending the embrasures along the line. A 
Frenchman, whose property had been thus, without 
his consent, seized, fearful of the injury it might 
sustain, proceeded in person to General Jackson to 
reclaim it, and to demand its delivery. The Gen- 



ANDREW JACKSON. 129 

eral, having heard his complaint, and ascertained 
from him that he was unemployed in any military 
service, directed a musket to be brought to him, 
and placing it in his hand, ordered him on the hne, 
remarking, at the same time, that as he seemed to 
be a man possessed of property, he knew of none 
who had a better right to fight and to defend it. 



130 LIFE OF 



CHAPTER XX. 

BATTLE OF THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY, 1815. 

N the 4th of this month, the long ex- 
pected reinforcement from Kentucky, 
amounting to 2250 men, under the 
command of Major-general Thomas, 
arrived at head-quarters ; but so ill provided 
w^ith arms as to be incapable of rendering 
any considerable service. 

Information was now received that Major- 
general Lambert had joined the British commander- 
in-chief with a considerable reinforcement. It had 
been heretofore announced in the American camp 
that additional forces were expected, and something 
decisive might be looked for as soon as they should 
arrive. This circumstance, in connexion with others 
no less favouring the idea, had led to the conclusion 
that a few days more would, in all probability, bring 
on the struggle which would decide the fate of the 
city. It was more than ever necessary to keep 




ANDREW JACKSON. 



131 



concealed the situation of his army ; and, above all, 
to preserve as secret as possible its unarmed condi- 
tion. To restrict all communication even with his 
own lines, was now, as danger increased, rendered 
more important. None were permitted to leave the 
line, and none from without to pass into his camp, 
but such as were to be implicitly confided in. The 
line of sentinels was strengthened in front, that 
none might pass to the enemy, should desertion be 
attempted : yet, notwithstanding this precaution and 
care, his plans and situation were disclosed. On 
the night of the 6th of January, a soldier from the 
hue by some means succeeded in eluding the vigi- 
lance of our sentinels. Early next morning his 
departure was discovered : it was at once correctly 
conjectured he had gone over to the enemy, and 
would, no doubt, afford them all the information in 
his power to communicate. This opinion, as subse- 
quent circumstances disclosed, was well founded; 
and dearly did he atone for his crime. He unfolded 
to the British the situation of the American line, the 
late reinforcements we had received, and the un- 
armed condition of many of the troops ; and pointing 
to the centre of General Carroll's division, as a place 
occupied by militia alone, recommended it as the 



132 L I F E O F 

point where an attack might be most prudently and 
safely made. 

Everything was in readiness to meet the assault 
when it should be made. The redoubt on the levee 
was defended by a company of the seventh regiment, 
under the command of Lieutenant Ross. The 
regular troops occupied that part of the intrench- 
ment next the river. General Carroll's division was 
in the centre, supported by the Kentucky troops, 
under General John Adair; while the extreme left, 
extending for a considerable distance into the swamp, 
was protected by the brigade of General Coffee. 
How soon the attack would be waged, was uncer- 
tain ; at what moment rested with the enemy, — 
with us, to be in readiness for resistance. There 
were many circumstances, however, favouring the 
belief that the hour of contest was not far distant, 
and indeed fast approaching ; the bustle of to-day, 
— the efforts to carry their boats into the river, — 
the fascines and scaling-ladders that were preparing, 
were circumstances pointing to attack, and indicat- 
ing the hour to be near at hand. General Jackson, 
unmoved by appearances, anxiously desired a con- 
test which he believed would give a triumph to his 
arms, and terminate the hardships of his suffering 
soldiers. Unremitting in exertion, and constantly 



ANDREW JACKSON. 133 

vigilant, his precaution kept pace with the zeal and 
preparation of the enemy. He seldom slept : he 
was always at his post per rming the duties both 
of general and soldier. His sentinels were doubled, 
and extended as far as possible in the direction of 
the British camp ; while a considerable portion of 
the troops were constantly at the line, with arms in 
their hands, ready to act when the first alarm should 
be given. 

For eight days had the two armies lain upon the 
same field within sight of each other, without any- 
thing decisive having been effected. The 8th of 
January at length arrived. The day dawned, and 
the signals intended to produce concert in the en- 
emy's movements were descried. On the left, near 
the swamp, a skyrocket was perceived rising in the 
air — it was answered by another on the right : in- 
stantly the enemy's charge was made, and with such 
rapidity that our outposts had hardly time to reach 
the hues. The British batteries opened with showers 
of bombs and shells, while the air was blazing with 
their congreve rockets. 

The two divisions, commanded by Sir Edward 
Packenham in person, and supported by generals 
Keane and Gibbs, pressed forward ; the right against 
the centre of General Carroll's command, the left 



134 



LIFE OF 



against our redoubt on the levee. A thick fog that 
obscured the morning enabled them to approach 
within a short distance of our intrenchment before 
they were discovered. They were now perceived 
advancing with a firm, quick, and steady pace, in 
column, with a front of sixty or seventy deep. Our 
troops, who had for some time been in readiness, 
and waiting their appearance, gave three cheers, 
and instantly the whole line was lighted with the 
blaze of their fire. A burst of artillery and small 
arms, pouring with destructive aim upon them, 
mowed down their front, and arrested their advance. 
In our musketry there was not a moment's intermis- 
sion : as one party discharged their pieces, another 
succeeded; alternately loading and appearing, no 
pause could be perceived — it was one continued 
volley. The columns already perceived their dan- 
gerous and exposed situation. Battery No. 7, on 
the left, was ably served by Lieutenant Spotts, and 
galled them with an incessant and destructive fire. 
Batteries No. 6 and 8 were no less actively em- 
ployed, and no less successful in felling them to the 
ground. Notwithstanding the severity of our fire, 
w hich few troops could for a moment have withstood, 
some of those brave men pressed on, and succeeded 
in gaining the ditch in front of our w^orks, w here 




*'**«*^"'-*'-^«^'^: 



£-*^>j , T^'n'* 



BATTLE OF N LW ORLEANS 



ANDREW JACKSON. 135 

they remained during the action, and were afterward 
made prisoners. The horror before them was too 
great to be withstood : and already were the Britisli 
troops seen wavering in their determination, and 
receding from the conflict. At this moment, Sir 
Edward Packenham, hastening to the front, endea- 
voured to encourage and inspire them with renewed 
zeal. His example was of short continuance : he 
soon fell mortally wounded in the arms of his aid-de- 
camp, not far from our line. Generals Gibbs and 
Keane also fell, and were borne from the field dan- 
gerously wounded. At this moment, General Lam- 
bert, who was advancing at a small distance in the 
rear, with the reserve, met the columns precipitately 
retreating, and in great confusion. His efforts to 
stop them were unavaihng, they continued retreating 
until they reached a ditch at the distance of four 
hundred yards, where a momentary safety being 
found, they were rallied and halted. 

The field before them, over which they had 
advanced, was strewed with the dead and dying. 
Danger hovered still around; yet urged and en- 
couraged by their officers, who feared their own 
disgrace involved in the failure, they again moved 
to the charge. They were already near enough" 
to deploy, and were endeavouring to do so ; but the 



136 LIFE OF 

same constant and unremitted resistance that caused 
their first retreat, continued yet unabated. Our 
batteries had never ceased their fire ; their constant 
discharges of grape and canister, and the fatal aim 
of our musketry, mowed down the front of the 
columns as fast as they could be formed. Satisfied 
nothing could be done, and that certain destruction 
awaited all further attempts, they forsook the contest 
and the field in disorder, leaving it almost entirely 
covered with the dead and wounded. It was in vain 
their officers endeavoured to animate them to further 
efforts, and equally vain to attempt coercion. The 
panic produced from the dreadful repulse they had 
experienced, the plain on which they had acted being 
covered with innumerable bodies of their country- 
men, while with the'ir most zealous exertions they 
had been unable to obtain the slightest advantage, 
were circumstances well calculated to make even 
the most submissive soldier oppose the authority 
that would have controlled him. 

The light companies of fusileers, the forty-third 
and ninety-third regiments, and one hundred men 
from the West India regiment, led on by Colonel 
Rennie, succeeded in gaining possession of a redoubt 
on the bank of the river. Rennie had reached the 
works, and leaping on the wall, sword in hand, called 



ANDREW JACKSON. 137 

upon his men to follow him ; he had scarcely spoken 
when he fell by the fatal aim of a rifleman. Jackson, 
hearing that the redoubt was in possession of the 
enemy, sent a detachment instantly to retake it. 
Before its arrival, however, the enemy had aban- 
doned it, and were retiring. They were severely 
galled by such of our guns as could be brought to 
bear. The levee afforded them considerable pro- 
tection ; yet, by Commodore Patterson's redoubt on 
the right bank, they suffered greatly. Enfiladed by 
this on their advance, they had been greatly annoyed, 
and now in their retreat were no less severely as- 
sailed. Numbers found a grave in the ditch before 
our line ; and of those who gained the redoubt, not 
one it is believed escaped ; they were shot down as 
fast as they entered. The route along which they 
had advanced and retired was strewed with bodies. 
Aflirighted at the carnage, they moved from the 
scene hastily and in confusion. Our batteries were 
still continuing the slaughter, and cutting them down 
at every step ; safety seemed only to be attainable 
when they should have retired without the range of 
our shot ; which, to troops galled as severely as they 
were, was too remote a relief. Pressed by this 
consideration, they fled to the ditch, whither the 



138 LIFE OF 

right division had retreated, and there remained 
until night permitted them to retire. 

Thus ended the battle of the 8th, one of the most 
glorious, as well as the most important in its results, 
that has ever been fought upon American soil. 

The loss of the British in the main attack on the 
left bank has been at different times variously stated. 
The killed, vi^ounded, and prisoners, ascertained on 
the next day after the battle by Colonel Hayne, the 
inspector-general, places it at 2600. General Lam- 
bert's report to Lord Bathurst makes it but 2070. 
From prisoners, however, and information and cir- 
cumstances derived through other sources, it must 
have been even greater than is stated by either. 
Among them was the commander-in-chief, and Ma- 
jor-general Gibbs, who died of his wounds the next 
day, besides many of their most valuable and distin- 
guished officers ; while the loss of the Americans in 
killed and wounded was but thirteen. Our effective 
force at the line on the left bank was 3700, while 
that of the enemy was not less than 9000. 

Never were officers more deceived than the Brit- 
ish in the result of this battle. They had no belief 
that militia could withstand the attack of a regular 
army. One fact is told which confirms this. When 
repulsed from our line, they were fully persuaded 



ANDREW JACKSON. 139 

that the information given by the deserter, on the 
night of the 6th, was false, and that, instead of 
pointing out the ground defended by our militia, he 
had shown them the place occupied by our best 
troops. Enraged at what they believed an inten- 
tional deception, they called their informant before 
them to account for the mischief he had done. It 
was in vain he urged his innocence, and, with the 
most solemn protestations, declared he had stated 
the fact truly as it was. They could not be con- 
vinced, — it was impossible that they had contended 
against any but the best-disciplined troops ; and, 
without further ceremony, the poor fellow, suspended 
in view of the camp, expiated on a tree, not his 
crime, for what he had stated was true, but their 
error in underrating an enemy who had already 
afforded abundant evidences of valour. In all their 
future trials with our countrymen, may they be no 
less deceived, and discover in our yeomanry a de- 
termination to sustain with firmness a government 
which knows nothing of oppression ; but which, on 
an enlarged and liberal scale, aims to secure the in- 
dependence and happiness of man. If the people 
of the United States, — free almost as the air they 
breathe, — shall at any time omit to maintain their 
privileges and their government, then, indeed, will 



140 L I F E O F ' 

it be idle longer to speak of the rights of men, or of 
their capacity to govern themselves : the dream of 
liberty must fade away and perish for ever, no more 
to be remembered or thought of. 

After the battle of the 8th of January, Jackson 
could have captured every man of the British force 
that was upon the land, if he had been supplied with 
arms, according to his own repeated urgent requests, 
and agreeably to the promises that were made him. 
Not having arms, he was compelled to let the re- 
mainder of the " heroes of the Peninsula" escape. 
The British embarked their remaining forces, and 
sailed away from the shores which had witnessed 
their sanguinary defeat. Enthusiastic rejoicings 
enlivened the city of New Orleans for many succes- 
sive days. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 141 



CHAPTER XXL 

NEW ORLEANS AFTER THE BATTLE. 

HOUGH the enemy had withdrawn 
from New Orleans in the manner 
which has been stated, Jackson could 
not be sure that they would not re- 
Against this contingency, he prepared 
himself by cautious arrangements in the dis- 
tribution of his force and the construction of 
new defences at assailable points, before he 
returned to New Orleans. In that city he was 
received as a deliverer — every mind was kindled to 
enthusiasm from the consideration of the evils which 
he had averted, as well as of the victories which he 
had gained. The most solemn and hvely demon- 
strations of public respect and gratitude succeeded 
each other daily, until the period of his departure 
for Nashville, soon after the annunciation of the 
peace concluded at Ghent, between Great Britain 
and the United States. 




142 LIFE OF 

Though honoured and cherished by the larger 
part of the citizens of New Orleans, he was not 
without occasion to display the energy and decision 
of his character, in a way that favoured the ends of 
jealousy and detraction. Anonymous articles, cal- 
culated to excite mutiny among his troops, and 
afford the enemy dangerous inteUigence, (for it must 
be recollected that the British commander did not 
take his final leave of Louisiana until the 18th, and 
was still in the neighbourhood,) appeared at this 
time, in one of the newspapers of New Orleans. 
Jackson caused the author of the articles to be re- 
vealed to him by the editor of the paper, when he 
found that the traitor was no less a personage than 
one of the members of the State Legislature. This, 
however, did not hinder Jackson from causing his 
immediate arrest and imprisonment. x4pplication 
was made to one of the judges for a writ of habeas 
corpis^ which was immediately granted and issued. 
We have already mentioned that Jackson arrested 
the judge. We now advert again to this incident, 
in order to relate what followed. The General had 
not yet raised the edict of martial law, (which he 
had been obliged to impose on the city upon under- 
taking its defence,) there being, as yet, no certain 
intelligence that the enemy had taken their do- 



ANDREW JACKSON. 143 

parture, and the news of the peace of Ghent not yet 
having reached New Orleans. Within a few days, 
the cessation of hostihties was announced officially. 
The judge was restored to his post, and the exercise 
of his functions. Without loss of time a rule of 
court was granted for General Jackson to appear 
and show cause why an attachment for contempt 
should not issue, on the ground that he had refused 
to obey a writ, and imprisoned the organ of the law. 
He did not hesitate to appear and submit a full and 
very able answer, justifying his proceedings. After 
argument before the court, the rule was made abso- 
lute ; an attachment sued out, and Jackson brought 
up to answer interrogatories. He declined answer- 
ing them, but asked for the sentence, which the 
judge then proceeded to pass. It was a fine of one 
thousand dollars. The spectators who crowded the 
hall, betrayed the strongest indignation. As soon 
as he entered his carriage, it was seized by the 
people, and drawn by them to the coffee-house, amid 
the acclamations of a large concourse. When he 
arrived at his quarters, he put the amount of his fine 
into the hands of his aid-de-camp, and caused it to 
be discharged without delay. He was scarcely 
beforehand with the citizens, who in a short time 
raised the sum among themselves by contribution, 



144 LIFE OF 

and were anxious to be permitted to testify at once 
their gratitude and shame. What was thus col- 
lected was appropriated at his request to a charita- 
ble institution. He enjoyed the consciousness that 
the powers which the exigency of the times forced 
him to assume, had been exercised exclusively for 
the public good, and that they had saved the country. 
In 1821, the corporation of New Orleans YOied Jlfty 
thousand dollars for erecting a marble statue appro- 
priate to his military services. The same body 
gave also one thousand dollars for a portrait of him, 
painted by Mr. Earle of Nashville. And the Con- 
gress of the United States, in the session of 1844-5, 
thirty years after the injury was inflicted, made 
ample and honourable restitution, by voting that the 
amount of the fine, with interest in full, should be 
reimbursed to General Jackson. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 145 




CHAPTER XXTI. 

SEMINOLE CAMPAIGN. 

N the month of March, General Jack- 
son returned once more to his home 
in Tennessee, carrying with him the 
grateful regrets and kind regards of 
the people of Louisiana. 

On his return to Nashville (a journey of 
eight hundred miles) he saw on every side 
marks of exultation and delight. It must be 
within the memory of most of our elder readers, 
what was the sensation produced throughout the 
union by the tidings from New Orleans, and what 
the popular enthusiasm concerning the merits of 
" Old Hickory." 

For two years afterwards he remained on his 
farm, retaining his rank in the army ; but chiefly 
occupied with rural pleasures and labours. In this 
interval the portion of the Seminoles who were 
driven into Florida, combining with fugitive negroes 

K 



146 LIFE OF 

from the adjoining states, and instigated by British 
adventurers, whose objects were blood and rapine, 
became formidable in numbers and hardihood, and 
began to execute schemes of robbery and vengeance 
against the Americans of the frontiers. It having 
been represented to the American government that 
murders had been committed on our defenceless 
citizens. General Gaines, the acting commander in 
the southern district, was ordered, in the summer of 
1817, with a considerable force, to take a station 
near the borders for their protection. He was at 
first directed to keep within the territorial limits of 
the United States, and abstain from every attempt 
to cross the Florida line ; but to demand of the In- 
dians the perpetrators of the crimes thus committed, 
without involving the innocent, and without a gen- 
eral rupture with the deluded savages. 

Murders having been ascertained to have been 
committed, attended with aggravating circumstances 
of rapine and cruelty. General Gaines made the de- 
mand, in conformity with his orders. The savages, 
however, deceived by the representations of certain 
foreign incendiaries and traders, who were among 
them, and w^ho tanght them to believe that they 
would receive assistance and encouragement from 
the British, not only refused to give up the mur- 



ANDREW JACKSON. 147 

derers, but repeated their massacres whenever an 
opportunity offered. While these things were going 
on, news reached the government that Lieutenant 
Scott, an officer acting under General Gaines, with 
forty-seven persons, men, women, and children, in a 
boat on the Apalachicola River, about two miles 
below the junction of the Flint and Chattahoochie, 
were surprised by an ambuscade of Indians, fired 
upon, and the whole detachment killed or captured, 
except six men, who contrived to escape by flight. 
Those who were taken alive were wantonly butch- 
ered after their capture by the ferocious savages, 
who seized the little children, and dashed their 
brains out against the side of the boat, murdering 
all the helpless females, except one, who was after- 
wards retaken. 

The government, on the receipt of this news, saw 
at once the necessity of adopting energetic measures, 
and immediately issued orders to General Jackson 
to repair to Fort Scott, and take the command of 
the forces in that quarter, with authority in case he 
should deem it necessary, to call upon the executives 
of the adjoining states for additional troops. They 
also authorized him to cross the Florida line if ne- 
cessary to the execution of his orders. Florida, it 



] 48 L I F E O F 

must be recollected, was still in possession of the 
Spaniards. 

He was referred to the previous orders to General 
Gaines, and directed to concentrate his forces, and 
adopt " measures necessary to terminate a conflict 
which had been avoided from considerations of 
humanity, but which had now become indispensable 
from the settled hostility of the savage enemy." In 
January following, the Secretary of War, in a letter 
to General Gaines, said, " The honour of the United 
States requires that the war with the Seminoles 
should be terminated speedily, and with exemplary 
punishment for hostilities so unprovoked." Under 
these orders, and in this critical state of affairs. 
General Jackson, having first collected Tennessee 
volunteers, with that zeal and promptness which 
have ever marked his career, repaired to the post 
assigned, and assumed the command. The necessity 
of crossing the line into Florida was no longer a 
subject of doubt. A large force of Indians and 
negroes had made that territory their refuge, and 
the Spanish authority was either too weak or too 
indifferent to restrain them; and to comply with 
orders given him from the department of war, he 
penetrated immediately into the Seminole towns, 
driving the enemy before him, and reduced them to 



ANDREW JACKSON. 149 

ashes. In the council-house of the king of the Mick- 
asukians, more than fifty fresh scalps, and in an 
adjacent house, upwards of three hundred scalps, of 
all ages and sexes, were found ; and in the centre 
of the public square a-red pole was erected, crowned 
with scalps, known by the hair to have belonged to 
the companions of Lieutenant Scott. 

To inflict merited punishment upon these barba- 
rians, and to prevent a repetition of these massacres, 
by bringing the war to a speedy and successful ter- 
mination, he pursued his march to St. Marks : there 
he found, conformably to previous information, that 
the Indians and negroes had demanded the surrender 
of the post to them ; and that the Spanish garrison, 
according to the commandant's own acknowledge- 
ment, was too weak to support it. He ascertained 
also that the enemy had been supplied with the 
means of carrying on the war, from the commandant 
of the post; that foreign incendiaries, instigating 
the savages, had free communication with the fort : 
councils of war were permitted by the commandant 
to be held by the chiefs and warriors within his own 
quarters — the Spanish store-houses were appro- 
priated to the use of the hostile party, and actually 
filled with goods belonging to them, and property 
known to have been plundered from American citi- 



150 LIFE OF 

zens, was purchased from them by the commandant, 
while he professed friendship to the United States. 
General Jackson, therefore, did not hesitate to de- 
mand of the commandant of St. Marks, the surrender 
of that post that it might be garrisoned by an Amer- 
ican force, and, when the Spanish officer hesitated, 
he entered the fort by force, though without blood- 
shed, the enemy having fled, and the garrison being 
too weak to make opposition. From this place he 
marched upon Suwaney, seized the stores of the 
enemy and burnt their villages. 

A variety of circumstances now convinced Gen- 
eral Jackson that the savages had commenced the 
war, and persisted in their barbarity. He also ar- 
rested at St. Marks several of the British incendia- 
ries who had excited them to hostilities. One Alex- 
ander Arbuthnot, who was an Indian trader, was 
taken at St. Marks, where he had been living an 
inmate in the family of the commandant. He was 
tried by a court of enquiry of thirteen respectable 
officers, and sentenced to be hung, which sentence 
was immediately carried into execution. 

Robert Ambrister, formerly a lieutenant in the 
British marine corps, was also tried ; and it having 
been proved that he had not only encouraged and 
assisted the hostile savages, but had also led them, 



ANDREW JACKSON. 151 

he was sentenced by the court to receive fifty 
stripes, and to be confined, with a ball and chain, 
to hard labour for twelve calender months. General 
Jackson, however, disapproved of this sentence, 
which he did not think sufficiently severe, and the 
case being reconsidered, Ambrister was sentenced 
to be shot, which sentence was carried into execution 
forthwith. 

Having thus far effected his objects. General 
Jackson considered the war at an end. St. Marks 
being garrisoned by an American force ; the Indian 
.towns of Mickasuky and Suwaney destroyed ; the 
two Indian chiefs who had been the prime movers 
and leaders of the savages, one of whom commanded 
the party that murdered Lieutenant Scott and his 
companions, and the two principal foreign instiga- 
tors, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, having been taken 
and executed, the American commander ordered the 
Georgia militia, who had joined him, to be dis- 
charged, and was about to return himself to Ten- 
nessee. But he soon learned that the Indians and 
negroes were collecting in bands west of the Appa- 
lachicola, which would render it necessary for him 
to send a detachment to scour the country in that 
quarter. While preparing for this object, he was 
informed that the Indians were admitted freely by 



152 LIFE OF 

the governor of Pensacola ; that they were collecting 
in large numbers, five hundred being in Pensacola 
on the 15th of April, many of whom were known to 
be hostile, and had just escaped from the pursuit of 
our troops; that the enemy were furnished with 
ammunition and supplies, and received intelligence 
of the movements of our forces, from that place ; 
that a number of them had sallied out and murdered 
eighteen of our citizens, settlers upon the Alabama, 
and were immediately received by the governor, and 
by him transported across the bay, that they might 
elude pursuit. 

These facts being ascertained by General Jackson 
from unquestionable authority, he immediately took 
up his hne of march towards Pensacola, at the head 
of a detachment of about 1200 men, for the purpose 
of counteracting the views of the enemy. On the 
18th of May, he crossed the Appalachicola at the 
Ocheese village, with the view of scouring the 
country west of that river : and, on the 23d of the 
same month, he received a communication from the 
governor of West Florida, protesting against his 
entrance into that province, commanding him to 
retire from it, and declaring that he would repel 
force by force, if he should not obey. This com- 
munication, together with other indications of hos- 



ANDREW JACKSON. 153 

tility in the governor, who had been well advised of 
the object of General Jackson's operations, deter- 
mined the measures to be pursued. He marched 
directly to Pensacola, and took possession of that 
place the following day, the governor having fled to 
Fort Carlos de Barrancas; which post, after a feeble 
resistance, surrendered on the 28th. By these 
events, the Indians and fugitive negroes were de- 
prived of all means of continuing their depredations, 
or screening themselves from the arm of justice. 

There were, however, scattered and marauding 
parties ; and, to prevent these from making inroads 
on the frontier settlers, Jackson ordered a couple 
of volunteer companies to scour the country between 
the Mobile and Appalachicola rivers. 

Thus ended the campaign of the Seminole war, 
which, though not distinguished by any heavy 
battles, was, nevertheless, a most arduous and ex- 
hausting species of warfare. 



154 



LIFE OF 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

JACKSON AFTER THE SEMINOLE CAMPAIGN. 

. ACKSON returned to Nashville, from 
the Seminole campaign, in June, 1818, 
and retired to his quiet Hermitage. 
New acknowledgements and new 
marks of admiration, poured in upon him 
from all sides. If the general government 
deemed it expedient to restore to the Span- 
iards the posts of St. Marks and Pensacola, 
they, nevertheless, applauded and defended what he 
had done. The British cabinet, moreover, approved 
of the treatment of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who 
had acted contrary to the laws of nations and of 
humanity. The conduct of the Tennessee warrior 
was, however, destined to be most vehemently ar- 
raigned in another quarter, — in the House of Repre- 
sentatives ; where a motion was made to condemn 
these acts of the Seminole war; the motion was, 
however, triumphantly rejected by a majority of the 




ANDREW JACKSON. 155 

House. A most eloquent orator proclaiming that 
" he most cheerfully acquitted General Jackson of 
any intention to violate the laws of his country or 
the obligations of humanity." Whoever studies 
Jackson's ample despatches in the campaign, and 
the speeches delivered in his behalf, must be con- 
vinced that he did neither, and that in makinor an 
example of the two instigators and confederates of 
the savages, and seizing upon fortresses which were 
only used for hostile purposes, he avenged and 
served the cause of humanity, and the highest na- 
tional interests. 

His desire of explaining his transactions in person, 
to the government, and defending himself on every 
side, carried him to Washington at this period. 
Thence he came to Philadelphia, and proceeded to 
New York. Wherever he appeared, crowds at- 
tended with unceasing plaudits. In each of these 
cities pubhc dinners and balls were given in his 
honour ; miHtary escorts provided ; addresses deliv- 
ered by deputations ; and to these his answers were 
uniformly pertinent and dignified. At New York, 
on the 19th of February, he received the freedom 
of the city in a gold box ; and there, as well as in 
Baltimore, the municipal councils requested and 
obtained his portrait, to be placed in their halls. 



156 LIFE OF 

While he was on this excursion, a report, connected 
with the history of the Seminole war, and extremely 
hostile to his character, was made from a committee 
of the Senate of the United States. It had not the 
concurrence of the ablest members of the committee, 
and it was brought forward at too late a period of 
the session of Congress to be discussed. Nothing 
more was supposed to be meant by its author than 
to cast an indictment before the public. It was re- 
pelled triumphantly, in a defence which was pub- 
lished in the National Intelligencer, on the 5th of 
March, and which has been ascribed to General 
Jackson. He felt deeply imputations which he knew 
to be not only false, but utterly irreconcilable with 
his nature. The issue of all the reports and ha- 
rangues was such as might give additional comfort 
to his domestic hours on his return to his farm, 
where he enjoyed again a period of repose. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 157 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

JACKSON AS GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA. 

HEN the treaty with Spain, ceding 
the Floridas, was finally ratified, 
Congress passed a law empowering 
the President to vest in such person 
or persons as he might select, all the mil- 
itary, civil, and judicial authority exercised 
by the officers of the Spanish government. 
The President, under this law, appointed 
General Jackson, to act in the first place as com- 
missioner for receiving the provinces, and then to 
assume the government of them. It was intended 
and expressed that the American governor should 
exercise all the functions belonging to the Spanish 
governors, Captain-General and Intendants, until 
Congress should provide a system of administration 
as in the instances of the other territories. 

The selection of Jackson was not a mere mark 
of honour or testimonial of public gratitude. His 




158 LIFE OF 

intimate acquaintance with the country, and the 
energy of his nature, recommended him specially for 
the post of governor. Florida was overrun with 
desperadoes of every description ; it was the resort 
of a motley horde of Smugglers, negro dealers, and 
adventurers of all kinds and nations, and had become 
the theatre of misrule and mischief. The reputation 
of Jackson was calculated to overawe this mass of 
villainy. 

It was not without reluctance that General Jack- 
son entered upon this arduous office, but a sense of 
duty compelled him to accept the office, and he 
accordingly repaired to the scene of his labours. 

On the first of July, 1821, he issued at Pensacola 
his proclamation, announcing that possession had 
been taken of the territory, and the authority of the 
United States established. 

He at once adopted vigorous measures for pro- 
ducing a proper administration. Courts were or- 
ganized and a police was instituted. 

It was not long until a case came before Jackson, 
requiring the exertion of his official power with 
firmness and decision. 

By the treaty with Spain, all documents relating 
to property or sovereignty were required to be de- 
livered up to the American authorities. Some of 



ANDREW JACKSON. 159 

these had already been submitted to General Jack- 
son, in his capacity of governor ; but, upon the 22d 
of August, he received a petition from certain indi- 
viduals, stating that some deeds, relating to property, 
had been feloniously retained by the Spanish ex- 
governor, Callava, and that they were then in the 
hands of a man called Sousa. Jackson immediately 
ordered three officers to wait upon Sousa, and de- 
mand the documents. Sousa exhibited them to the 
officers, but refused to give them up, as they had 
been intrusted to him by Callava. Jackson ordered 
Sousa to appear before him, who returned answer 
that the papers had been sent to the house of the 
ex-governor Callava. Two officers were then sent 
by Jackson to the house of Callava, with orders to 
demand the papers, and, in case they were refused, 
to require both Callava and his steward, who had 
received them from Sousa, to appear before the gov- 
ernor. The Spaniard insisted at first upon retaining 
the papers, and, after promising to surrender them, 
when a list was furnished, and faihng to do so, and 
obstinately refusing to obey the summons in any 
manner, he was finally conducted under guard to 
the office of the governor. When there, he was 
informed of the nature and propriety of the demand 
made upon him, and apprized that the further with- 



160 LIFE OF 

holding of the papers would be regarded as a con- 
tempt of the governor's judicial authority, and sub- 
ject him to imprisonment. He would do nothing 
but dictate protests, when the patience of Jackson 
being exhausted, he, his steward, and Sousa were 
committed to prison, nntil the papers should be 
obtained. 

The next morning, the box in which the papers 
had been seen, was seized and opened by officers 
specially commissioned. It had been carefully sealed 
by Callava, and was found to contain what was 
sought. Callava and his companions were then re- 
leased from jail. The records thus recovered re- 
lated to the estate of a person who died at Pensacola, 
about the year 1807, having made his will, and be- 
queathed his property to several orphan females, 
who had never received any portion of it, owing to 
the dishonesty of the individuals who were at the 
same time its depositaries and debtors. Callava 
himself had made decrees in favour of the heirs, 
which were discovered in the box and had been 
suppressed under corrupt influence. It was the 
object of Callava to carry ofl^'all the evidence neces- 
sary for redress. He afterwards published in the 
American papers an exposition of the treatment he 
had received, and was convicted of misrepresenta- 



ANDREW JACKSON. 161 

tion, by the counter statements of gentlemen in 
Pensacola. To have allowed the wrong which was 
designed to be committed, would have been a 
disgrace to the dignity and justice of the govern- 
ment of the United States, as well as to humanity. 
The just language of Jackson in his justification of 
the affair to the President was : " When men of 
high standing attempt to trample on the rights of 
the weak, they are the fittest objects for example or 
punishment. In general, the great can protect them- 
selves, but the poor and humble require the arm and 
shield of the law." 

Among the civil officers sent to Florida on its 
occupation by our government, was a former Sen- 
ator of the United States, Elegius Fromentin, who 
went in the capacity of a judge, with a jurisdiction 
limited to cases that might arise under the revenue 
laws, and the acts of Congress prohibiting the intro- 
duction of slaves. This gentleman consented, at 
the instigation of some of the friends of Callava, 
to issue a writ of habeas corpus to extricate the 
Spaniard from confinement. The general Judiciary 
Act for the United States, under which alone the 
judge could claim the right of thus interfering, had 
not been extended to the Floridas. Jackson dis- 
played his characteristic decision and intelligence 



162 LIFE OF 

in this case, by citing Fromentin to appear before 
him and answer to the charge of a contempt of the 
superior court, and a serious misdemeanor. The 
prisoner was released, the papers having been ob- 
tained before Mr. Fromentin was able to present 
himself, pursuant to the summons. The General 
was then content with defining to him the limits of 
his competency as judge, and uttering a severe re- 
proof of his precipitation. Very bitter complaints 
were afterwards made by both parties to the execu- 
tive at Washington. 

This, even, was not the end of the Callava case, 
as it has been called. Several Spanish officers who 
had remained with the ex-governor in the province 
ventured to publish, in a Pensacola paper, an article 
with their signatures, in which they accused the 
General of violence and tyranny. It w^as stipulated 
in the treaty of cession, that all the Spanish officers 
should be withdrawn from the territories ceded, 
within six months after the ratification of the treaty. 
More than this term had elapsed. Jackson issued 
his proclamation without delay, commanding them, 
as trespassers and disturbers of the public peace, to 
depart in the course of a week. They had not the 
folly to remain. About the same period, many 
mportant documents which the Spaniards had 



ANDREW JACKSON. 163 

no right to retain, were attempted to be withheld 
by the ex-governor of East Florida. Jackson, on 
hearing of this attempt, transmitted, by mail, his 
orders to take forcible possession of them ; which 
was done accordingly. The ex-governor protested ; 
but upon insufficient grounds, and with personal 
disgrace. 

These occurrences produced much discussion in 
the newspapers, and violent remonstrances from the 
Spanish minister, but the acts of General Jackson 
were fully justified as soon as the facts became 
generally known. 

On the 7th of October, Jackson delegated his 
power to two gentlemen, his secretaries, and re- 
turned to Nashville. In his valedictory address to 
the citizens of Florida, he informed them that he 
had completed the temporary organization of the 
two provinces. He stated and justified his acts in 
the case of Callava. 

The injuries which his health had suflfered, for- 
bade him to protract his residence in Florida. 

Before his departure, he received from the citizens 
spontaneous pubhc manifestations of esteem and 
gratitude. Attempts were made at the ensuing 
session of Congress, to obtain a condemnation of his 
conduct towards Callava, but they utterly failed. 



164 LIFE OF 

both with the Legislature and the people. On the 
4th of July, 1822, the governor of Tennessee, by 
order of the Legislature, presented him with a sword 
as a testimonial "of the high respect" entertained 
by the state for his public services. And, on the 
20th of August, of the same year, the members of 
the General Assembly of Tennessee recommended 
him to the union for the office of President — a re- 
commendation which was repeated by the Legisla- 
ture of Alabama, and various assemblages of private 
citizens in other parts of the country. In the autumn 
of 1823, he was elected to the Senate of the United 
States; social honours were heaped upon him at 
Washington, and he was every day receiving evi- 
dences of the high respect entertained for him on all 
sides. 

Before his election to the Senate, he was ap- 
pointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the government 
of Mexico, but he decUned the office, in consequence 
of his repugnance to the monarchical system of gov- 
ernment which then existed in that country. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 165 



CHAPTER XXV. 

JACKSON BECOMES PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

N 1824, when a new President was to be 
chosen, Jackson was put in nomination 
as a candidate for the office ; but though 
he had more votes than any other can- 
didate, yet he was not elected. The reader 
will ask how this can be ? it is thus : The 
law is, that electors of the President shall be 
chosen by the people in every state; that 
these electors shall each give their votes for some 
one person to be President ; that any candidate who 
has a majority of the votes of the whole of the elec- 
tors shall be the President ; but, if there be no one 
who has a majority of the whole of the votes of the 
electors, then the President shall be chosen by the 
members of the House of Representatives ; but that 
there they shall vote by states ; and that each state 
shall have one vote^ and no more. Now, there were 




166 



LIFE OF 



four candidates having votes of electors, as fol- 
lows : — 

Jackson 99 

Adams 84 

Crawford 47 

Clay 31 

Total, 261 

Therefore, Jackson not having a majority of the 
whole, the other kind of election took place ; and as 
they were the large states which were for him, and 
the small states which were for Adams, the election 
by the House of Representatives made Adams 
President, with a minority of the votes of the people. 
Adams's four years having expired, he was once 
more a candidate ; but the field was now clear of 
Clay and of Crawford, and the votes of the electors 
stood thus : 

Jackson 178 

Adams 83 

Total, 261 
Jackson was, therefore, in 1828, elected President 
of the United States, and his first term of ofiice 
having expired, he was, in 1832, re-elected by a 
triumphant majority over his opponent, Henry Clay. 
It need hardly be observed that General Jackson, 
during his political life, as every great man must, 
made a large number of enemies. The greater part 



• i.vji^Mf i i'u^m^ ^^ 




JACKSON AT THE. HERMITAGF. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 167 

of these enemies grew out of General Jackson's 
opposition to the Bank of the United States. 

The many and strong prejudices engendered by 
his bold and energetic administration of public af- 
fairs, will gradually become less as time erases from 
memories the influence of his policy upon individual 
interests and happiness. There will always, how- 
ever, be a diversity of opinions among the most in- 
telligent and honest, as to the eflfects of his remark- 
able career upon the character and prosperity of the 
country. 

General Jackson, upon retiring from the Presi- 
dential chair, in 1836, returned to his quiet home at 
the Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee, whence 
his influence was silently exerted upon our politics 
for the residue of his life. He continued, till the end, 
to be recognised as the chief of the great party over 
which he had so long presided, and was consulted 
almost as an oracle upon all important questions. 



168 LIFE OF 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE LAST HOURS OF JACKSON. 

E come now to the last scene in the 
life of the great soldier and states- 
man, and shall dwell with particu- 
larity upon the incidents of his 
He died at his home in Tennessee, 
on the afternoon of the 8th day of June, 
1845. Mr. William Tyack, of New York, 
has published an account of his visit to the 
Hermitage, which he left the Wednesday before the 
ex-president expired, and from his journal we take 
the following paragraphs : 

''Wednesday^ May 28. — On my arrival, I found 
General Jackson more comfortable than he had 
been, although his disease is not abated, and his long 
and useful hfe is rapidly drawing to its close. He 
has not been in a condition to lie down during the 
last four months. His feet and legs, his hands and 
arms, are very much swollen with dropsy, which 




ANDREW JACKSON. 169 

has invaded his whole system. Bandages are drawn 
tight around the parts most affected, to prevent, as 
much as possible, the increase of water. He has 
scarcely any use of his hands. The bandages are 
removed several times in the twenty-four hours, and 
the parts rubbed severely to restore animation and 
the circulation of the blood. He has not strength 
to stand ; his respiration is very short, and attended 
with much difficulty, and the whole progress of his 
disease is accompanied with great suffering. He 
has no sleep except by opiates. 

'''Thursday^ May 29. — General Jackson is rather 
more comfortable, having obtained some sleep 
through medicines. This day he sat a while to Mr. 
Healy, who had been sent by Louis Philippe, to 
paint his portrait. Mr. Healy told me that it was 
the design of the King of the French to place Jack- 
son's by the side of Washington's, which already 
hangs in his gallery — the most celebrated and in- 
teresting historical collection in the world — and to 
surround them with the pictures of the most emi- 
nent of American generals and statesmen. Mr. 
Healy is commissioned by the king to paint the 
portraits of some twelve of our most distinguished 
patriots, to accompany those of Washington and 
Jackson — the greatest and best men our country 



170 LIFE OF 

has produced — as well as some of the most prom- 
inent politicians of the present time. Messrs. John 
Quincy Adams and Henry Clay were named by Mr. 
Healy to me. He was enabled to make much pro- 
gress in his work to-day, and, as usual, the General 
received many visiters — more than thirty. All were 
admitted, from the humblest to the most renowned, 
to take the venerable chieftain by the hand and bid 
him farewell. Among them was General Jessup, an 
old friend and companion in arms. The meeting of 
these most faithful and gallant soldiers and servants 
of the republic was deeply interesting and affecting. 
A reverend gentleman called to inquire in regard to 
the General's health, his faith, and religious hope. He 
said, "Sir, I am in the hands of a merciful God. I 
have full confidence in his goodness and mercy. My 
lamp of life is nearly out, and the last glimmer is 
come. I am ready to depart when called. The 
Bible is true. The principles and statutes of that 
holy book have been the rule of my life, and I have 
tried to conform to its spirit as near as possible. 
Upon that sacred volume I rest my hope of eternal 
salvation, through the merits and blood of our 
blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ." Nothing 
farther was said upon the subject. 

"-Friday^ May 30. — The General passed a bad 



ANDREW JACKSON. 171 

night ; no sleep-r-extremely feeble this morning. Mr. 
Healy, with considerable exertions on the part of 
the General, was enabled to finish the portrait, on 
which he laboured with great care. It was presented 
to the General. After examining it for some min- 
utes, he remarked to Mr. Healy, " I am satisfied, 
sir, that you stand at the head of your profession ; 
if I may be allowed to judge of my own Hkeness, I 
can safely concur in the opinion of my faaiily, that it 
is the best that has been taken. I feel very much 
obliged to you, sir, for the very great labour and 
care you have been pleased to bestow upon it." 
The family were all highly gratified with its faithful- 
ness. I consider it the most perfect representation 
I have ever seen, giving rather the remains of the 
heroic personage, than the full life that made him 
the most extraordinary combination of spirit and 
energy, with a slender frame, the world ever saw. 
At nine o'clock, as was the custom, all the General's 
family — except the few who take their turn to watch 
by his side — took their leave of him. Each of them 
approached him, received his blessing, bade him 
farewell, and kissed him, as it would seem, an eter- 
nal good-night — for he would say, "My work is done 
for life." After his family retires, it is touching to 
see this heroic man, who has faced every danger 



172 ' LIFE OF 

with unyielding front, offer up his prayers for those 
whom Providence has committed to his care ; that 
Heaven would protect and prosper them when he is 
no more — praying still more fervently to God for 
the preservation of his country, of the union, and 
the people of the United States, from all foreign in- 
fluence and invasion — tendering his forgiveness to 
his enemies, and his gratitude to God for his support 
and success through a long life, and for the hope of 
eternal salvation, through the merits of our blessed 
Redeemer. He exerts himself to discharge every 
duty, and with all the anxious care that is possible ; 
but his debility and the unremitting anguish he 
suffers have almost extinguished every power except 
that of his intellect. Occasionally his distress pro- 
duces spasmodic affections; yet, in the midst of the 
worst paroxysms of pain, not a murmur, not even a 
groan, escapes his lips. Great and just in life, calm 
and resigned in death. 

''Saturday^ May 31. — The General passed a night 
of distress, no sleep ; extreme debility this morning, 
attended with increased swelling of the abdomen 
and all his limbs, and difficulty of breathing. He 
said, " I hope God will grant me patience to sub- 
mit to His holy will ; He does all things well, and 
blessed be His holy and merciful name." His Bible 



ANDREW JACKSON. 173 

is always near him ; if he is in his chair, it is on the 
table by his side ; when propped up in bed that 
sacred volume is laid by him, and he often reads it. 
He has no strength, and is lifted in and out of his 
sitting posture in bed to the same position in his 
chair. Nothing can exceed the affectionate care, 
vigilance, and never-ceasing efforts of his pious and 
devoted family, to administer to his relief; and yet, 
in the midst of the affliction which calls for so much 
attention and sympathy, kindness and hospitality to 
strangers are not omitted. 

''Sunday, June 1. — "This day," the General said, 
"is the holy Sabbath, ordained by God, and set 
apart to be devoted to his worship and praise. I 
always attended service at church when I could ; 
but now I can go no more." He desired the family 
to go, as many as could, and charged them to con- 
tinue the education of the poor at the Sunday 
school. This new system of instruction, he said, 
which blended the duties of religion with those of 
humanity, he considered of vast importance; and 
spoke with an emphasis which showed his anxiety 
to impress it on the family. Mrs. Jackson, and her 
sister, Mrs. Adams, regularly attended to the teach- 
ing of the poor on the Sabbath. A part of the family 
went to church. The General looked out of the 



174 L I F E O F 

window, and said, " This is apparently the last Sab- 
bath I shall be with you ; God's will be done — He 
is kind and merciful." His look is often fixed with 
peculiar affection on his grand-daughter Rachel, 
named after his wife, whose memory he has so ten- 
derly cherished. She has all the lovely and amiable 
qualities for which the elder Mrs. Jackson was so 
remarkable. 

'-'Monday^ June 2. — The General passed a restless 
night — no sleep — an evident increase of the effects 
of the disease. He read many letters, as usual. 
Some of them were from persons of whom he had 
no knowledge, asking for autographs, and making 
other requests. The letters were opened by some 
of the family. Mrs. Jackson or Mrs. Adams was 
almost constantly with him. He looked over them ; 
those of importance were opened and read. Among 
them was one from Major Donelson, charge d'af- 
faires to Texas, giving an account of the almost in- 
credible proceedings of the British agent, Elliot, to 
prevent the annexation of Texas to the United 
States. The General said, " We have made a dis- 
graceful sacrifice of our territory; an important 
portion of our country was given away to England 
without a shadow of title on the part of the claim- 
ants, as has been shown by the admissions of the 



ANDREW JACKSON. 175 

English ministers on referring, in Parliament, to the 
King's map, on which the true boundaries were de- 
lineated, and of which they were apprised when 
urging their demands. " Right on the side of the 
American people, and firmness in maintaining it," 
he continued, " with trust in God alone, will secure 
to them the integrity of the possessions of which 
the British government would now deprive them. I 
am satisfied that they will assert and vindicate what 
justice awards them ; and that no part of our terri- 
tory or country will ever be submitted to any arbi- 
tration but of the cannon's mouth." He felt grateful 
to a merciful Providence that had always sustained 
him through all his struggles, in the defence and 
for the independence and prosperity of his be- 
loved country, and that he could give up his stew- 
ardship and resign his breath to the God who gave 
it, with the cheering reflection that the country was 
now settled down upon a firm, democratic basis; 
that the rights of the labouring classes were re- 
spected and protected, (for, he adds, it is from them 
that the country derives all its prosperity and great- 
ness,) and to them we must ever look for defence of 
our soil when invaded. They have never refused. 
No, sir : and never will. Give them an honest gov- 
ernment, freedom from monopolies and privileged 



176 LIFE OF 

classes, and hard money — not paper currency — for 
their hard labour, and all will be well. At two 
o'clock, P. M., his distress became suddenly very 
great. An express was sent to Nashville, twelve 
miles, for surgical aid. An operation was performed 
by Doctor Esleman, which produced great relief, 
although extreme prostration. 

''Tuesday, June 3. — Much distress through the 
night. Opiates were freely administered, but sleep 
appeared to have passed from him. Calm, and per- 
fectly resigned to the will of his Redeemer, he 
prayed to God to sustain him in this his hour of 
dissolution. At ten o'clock, A. M., Doctors Robin- 
son and Walters arrived from Nashville, Doctor 
Esleman having remained with the General through 
the night. A consultation was held, and all that 
had been done was approved ; all that could be done 
was to administer to the General's temporary wants. 
At four o'clock, P. M., I left his house for home. 
He expressed great solicitude in my behalf, but I 
was silent ; the scene was too affecting ; and I left 
this aged soldier, statesman, and Christian patriot, 
with all the pious and hospitable inmates of the 
Hermitage, without the power of saying farewell." 

We continue the narrative, from the declarations 
of Dr. Esleman, the attending physician: 



ANDREW JACKSON. 177 

Early in the morning, (Sunday,) he became con- 
scious that the spark of Ufe was nearly extinguished ; 
and, expecting to die before another sun would set, he 
sent for his family and domestics to receive his dying 
benediction. His remarks were full of affection and 
Christian resignation. His mind retained its vigour 
to the last, and his dying moments, even more than 
his early years, exhibited its highest intellectual light. 

To his family and friends he said: — "Do not 
grieve that I am about to leave you, for I shall be 
better off. Although I am afflicted with pain and 
bodily suffering, these are as nothing compared with 
the sufferings of the Saviour of the world, who was 
put to death on the accursed tree. I have fulfilled 
my destiny on the earth, and it is better that this 
worn-out frame should go to rest, and my spirit 
take up its abode with the Redeemer." 

He continued thus to address his relatives and 
friends at intervals, during the forenoon, and as. Dr. 
Esleman remarked, his confidence and faith in the 
great truths of religion seemed to be more firm and 
unwavering than any man he had ever seen die. 
He expressed a desire that Dr. Edgar of the Presby- 
terian Church, to which he himself belonged, should 
preach his funeral sermon, and that no pomp or 
parade should be made over his grave. 

M 



178 LIFE OF 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

FUNERAL HONOURS CHARACTER PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 

HE intelligence of General Jackson's 
death caused everywhere a profound 
sensation. In all the large cities, 
funeral honours were paid to his 
memory, and eulogiums were pronounced by 
the most eminent citizens. We close this 
memoir with the w^ords of one of the most 
distinguished of our statesmen, and the ablest 
of those who opposed General Jackson's adminis- 
tration — Daniel Webster, who spoke as follows, be- 
fore the Historical Society of New York: 

"The character of General Jackson, while he 
lived, was presented in two relations to his country. 
He was a soldier and had commanded the armies 
of the Republic, and he has filled the office of Chief 
Magistrate. So far as regards his military reputa- 
tion and merits, I partake fully in the general esti- 
mate. He was a soldier of dauntless courage, 




ANDREW JACKSON. 179 

vigour and perseverance, an officer of skill and 
sagacity, of quickness of perception, and of prompt 
and resolute execution of his purposes. There is 
probably no division, at home or abroad, as to his 
merits in these particulars. 

" During the whole of his civil administration, it 
happened that I was a member of the Senate of the 
United States; and it was my misfortune to be 
obliged to differ with him in regard to most of his 
leading measures. To me this was painful, because 
it much better suits my temper and feelings to be 
able to support the measures of government, than to 
find myself called upon by duty to oppose them. 

" There were occasions, however, in the course 
of his administration, in which no duty of opposition 
devolved upon me. Some of these were not unim- 
portant. There were times which appeared to me 
to be critical, calling for wisdom and energy on the 
part of the government, and in which measures pro- 
posed, and opinions expressed by him, seemed to me 
to be highly suitable to the exigency. On these 
occasions, I supported those measures with the 
same sincerity and zeal as if I had never differed 
from him before, or never expected to differ from 
him again. 

" There is no doubt that he sought to distinguish 



180 LIFE OF 

himself by exalting the character and honour of his 
country. And the occasion on which it was uttered 
rendered somewhat remarkable his celebrated senti- 
ment in favour of the preservation of the union. I 
believe he felt the sentiment with the utmost sin- 
cerity, and this cannot be. denied to be one strong 
proof of his devotion to the true interests of his 
country. 

"He has now ceased from his earthly labours; 
and affects the public interests of the State only by 
his example and the influence of his opinions. We 
may well suppose that in the last days and hours., 
and moments of his life, and with the full conscious- 
ness of the change then before him and so near, one 
of his warmest wishes would be, that whatever 
errors he might have committed should be passing 
and transitory in their effect upon the constitution 
and institutions of his country. And while we may 
well ascribe this praiseworthy and benign dying 
sentiment to him, let us, with equal ingenuousness, 
cherish the feehng that whatever he has accom- 
plished for the real good of the country, its true 
character and real glory, may remain a just inher- 
itance attached to his memory." 

In the various critical situations in which he was 
placed by emergencies and the unlimited discretion 



ANDREW JACKSON. 181 

cast upon him, he appears to have been governed 
by general and solid principles which he knew how 
to apply satisfactorily in explaining his measures. 
The very salutary energy and decision with which 
he pursued the course that he had deliberately con- 
cluded to be right and necessary, subjected him to 
the belief or charge of having acted merely from a 
vehement, overbearing, or arbitrary disposition. If 
his feelings were strongly roused and displayed 
against the timid or the traitorous portion of the in- 
habitants of New Orleans, who would have given 
the enemy an easy and fatal triumph — against the 
Spanish authorities in Florida who served the British 
and supplied the Seminoles — against Arbuthnot and 
Ambrister, the unwearied instigators and insidious 
confederates of the savages thirsting for American 
blood — against the im poster prophets, who had 
directed the butchery of white women and children, 
and whose occupation it was to incite depredation 
and murder—against a Spanish governor who would 
have violated a treaty and despoiled orphan females 
of their inheritance — we may say that both the 
warmth of those feelings, and the rigour with which 
they were manifested, will be easily excused by 
generous minds. 

General Jackson was artificial in nothing. In 



182 LIFE OF 

regard to business, he was indefatigable and saga- 
cious, and, in the course of his practice as a lawyer, 
he accumulated a competent estate. 

In person, General Jackson was tall, and remark- 
ably erect and thin. His weight bore no proportion 
to his height, and his frame, in general, did not 
appear fitted for trials such as it had borne. His 
features were large ; his eyes dark blue, with a keen 
and strong glance ; his eye-brows arched and prom- 
inent, and his complexion that of the war-worn 
soldier. His demeanour was easy and gentle: in 
every station he was open and accessible to all. 
The irritabihty of his temper, which was not denied 
by his friends, produced contrasts in his manner and 
countenance leading to very different conceptions 
and representations as to both : but those w^ho have 
lived and acted with him bear unanimous testimony 
to the general mildness of his carriage and the 
kindness of his disposition. It is certain that he 
inspired his soldiers, his military household, his 
domestic circle, and his neighbours, with the most 
affectionate sentiments. The impetuosity of his 
nature, his impatience of wrong and encroachment, 
his contempt for meanness, and his tenaciousness 
of just authority, involved him in bitter alter- 
cations and sanguinary quarrels : — his resentments 



ANDREW JACKSON. 183 

were fiercely executed, and his censures rashly 
uttered; yet he cannot be accused of wanton or 
mahcious violence ; the sallies which may be deemed 
intemperate can be traced to strong provocation, 
operating, in most instances, upon his patriotic zeal 
and the very generosity and loftiness of his spirit. 

His amusements consisted chiefly in the manage- 
ment of his domestic concerns, the sports of the turf, 
and social intercourse. He was temperate in his 
diet, and in all respects enjoyed a good private repu- 
tation. 



How sleep the brave, who sink to rest, 
By all their country's wishes blest ! 
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, 
Returns to seek their hallow'd mould, 
She there shall dress a sweeter sod, 
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod ! 
By fairy forms their dirge is sung — 
By hands unseen their knell is rung — 
There Honour comes, a pilgrim grey, 
To bless the turf that wraps their clay- 
And Freedom shall awhile repair 
To dwell a weeping hermit there ! 

THE END. 



3h77'$ 



